Mission s-rank- Infiltration Akatsuki
by madsbouc
Summary: Sakura Haruno was assigned to a secret mission to infiltrate the akatsuki as a s-class missing-nin while committing a crime by accident that only the Godaime Hokage knows about to take down akatsuki once and for all. But what happens when Sakura falls in love with a man she never thought she would? Sakura must make the choice between life and death to save the people she loves most
1. Chapter 1: Plots

Working title: Mission s-rank: Infiltration akatsuki

Chapter 1: Plots.

It was a beautiful day in the shinobi village of Konoha, the village hidden in the Leaf, the sky was blue with white clouds as always, and the famous green forests in the fire country was a nice green, and the village looked like the most happiest place in existence. Basically, your perfect postcard, but the village may look great on the surface, but little do the people know what twisted schemes and plots that were bubbling underneath from a certain man.

Fire Country, Hokage Tower

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" The Godaime hokage and legendary sannin Tsunade shouted in anger at her loyal assistant, Shizune.

"M-my lady p-please calm down, or else someone will hear!" Shizune, head of the medics of Konoha, said in a fearful but low voice.

"All right, check to make sure no one, and I mean NO ONE hears us" Tsunade said, now calm with her bottle of sake in hand sitting in the Hokage office.

Shizune opened the doors and gave a quick look down both halls before returning to the office.

"I told you, this was a possible rumor I heard from our spy in Root."

"But you know that old Danzo, he would do anything to usurp the title of hokage from me," Tsunade replied with a sour look of distaste on her face. "And this proves it, we need to call a immediate meeting with the council elders to have Danzo arrested now!"

"But lady Tsunade, we have no valid proof against Danzo that he is secretly rallying his Root members to overthrow you in a matter of time, we need a scroll from the heart of Root itself for valid proof".

"Exactly, we need someone reasonably good at being a double agent, someone who can sneak into the heart of Root in just a few hours and get that scroll" Tsunade said thoughtfully, " And I have just the perfect person in mind…."

Grass Country, akatsuki hideout.

In a dimly lit meeting room sat seven of the most wanted s-class ranking missing-nin in the world, all calmly seated at a huge table, awaiting for what their leader had to say.

"I have some important information" Pain, the leader of the akatsuki said, looking at the last seven members left in the akatsuki across the table where they were all seated."Hidan and Kakuzu are dead."

All six akatsuki members looked in shock at Pain, except the crimson-eyed member Itachi Uchiha.

"How did this happen?" Itachi Uchiha said calmly, his face emotionless as always from years of training as a Anbu Root member.

"The kyuubi vessel and its teammates took out Hidan's team" Pain replied with no emotion either.

A snicker came from Kisame Hoshigaki's direction"Well, well, it looks like the zombie twins are dead!"

"Do not laugh about the death of your comrades, Kisame" Pain replied, "now the extraction ceremonies will take a lot longer and the hunt of the tailed beasts grows longer."

"Did you say the kyuubi vessel and Kakashi Hatake?" said Tobi waving his arms cheerfully, "Hey! Aren't those are the ones that gave Deidara-senpai an ass-kicking?"

"Tobi!" the blond haired bombing expert Deidara yelled, embarrassed, "SHUT UP NOW!"

"Aw, Deidara-san, you're always so mean!"

"Shut up right now or else bombard you to death yeah!" snapped Deidara, who was already seriously considering blowing Tobi into bloody bits.

"Calm yourself, Deidara" Pain smoothly said, holding up a hand.

"Yeah, take a chill pill girly Deidara!" Tobi chimed in.

"And you should not anger your superior, Tobi" Pain said, irritated at the two's bickering."As I was saying, we need to round up the last remaining six tailed beasts as soon as possible."

"Which brings me to my instructions, and they are…"

Pain looked at Itachi and Kisame, "Itachi and Kisame, you will track and bring back the four-tails jinchuriki, a nomad ninja named Roshi."

"Wait a second there, Kisame grumpily grouched, all trace of his earlier amusement gone from his face, "Why so soon? We just finished the extraction of the three-tails yesterday-"

"I have my reasons," Pain cut in, something he almost never did, "And remember your place Kisame." Kisame grumbled something unintelligible under his breath before remaining silent.

"But what about us yeah!" asked Deidara, "Will Tobi and I be hunting anymore tailed beasts?"

"No Deidara" Pain replied without even looking at him, "You have already collected two tailed beasts and that is enough whil Itachi and Kisame failed to capture the nine-tails vessel two and a half years ago, and they have not yet captured any tailed beasts."

Itachi narrowed his eyes just as a angry hiss came from Kisame, Itachi did not particularly like the word "fail" it did not apply to him. He would have a say in this.

But before he could speak, Kisame lashed out, verbally.

"That "fail" was only because the kid had one of the three legendary sannin to protect him!"

"I will not tolerate any excuses Kisame" said Pain, who appeared to be getting annoyed, "You and Itachi have seven months to find and bring the four-tails."

"Why seven months Pain?" came Itachi's smooth, calm voice. "You usually give us a year with all the tracking we have to do."

"Reasons," Pain simply said, "Now, Konan and I will be staying at the base in the Rain, Tobi and Deidara will go to the Wind base, Zetsu will go to the next extraction chamber in the base between the borderline of the Water and Lightning Countries to prepare the Gedo statue, Itachi and Kisame will go to the base in the Earth Country. You are dismissed."

All seven members of the akatsuki got up from their seats and left for the next base they were assigned to, for by now someone must have sensed all their chakras put together by now in this area.

They left under the shadow of night.

Fire Country, Icharaku's diner.

"Naruto, Sai, stop it!" yelled Sakura Haruno, the famously known Godaime hokage's apprentice and second best medic-nin in the world. "Quit it, you're making a scene!"

Sakura stood between two upturned picnic tables, and ducked just as a bowl went flying over her head.

Her best friends, Naruto Uzumaki, the nine-tails jinckuriki was crouched behind the picnic table on her left, a pile of ramen, utensils, plates, and bowls were behind him. Sai was behind the table on her right, chucking just about the same things in Naruto's direction, with Sakura in the middle of the mess, arms raised.

"If you two don't stop right now you better have your funeral arrangements made!" Sakura shouted, anger boiling, cracking her knuckles threateningly.

They did not stop. Just as Sakura was about to rearrange their faces against the nearest wall, Shizune came running to her, out of breath.

"Lady Tsunade would like to see you immiediately, it's a emergency!" Shizune said.

Sakura glanced at Naruto and Sai who were still making a scene. This could wait later, if this was a emergency form Tsunade, then she would come.

"All right" Sakura replied. With that, she dashed to the Hokage Tower.

She arrived at the hokage's office in a few minutes, and when she walked in, Tsunade was sitting in her desk chair, her face grave.

"You called for me, Tsunade shitou?" Sakura asked. She and Tsunade were like a surrogate mother and daughter after Sakura's parents died in the line of duty two years ago, and Tsunade has always been like a mother to her.

"Yes, I did," Tsunade said, honey-brownish eyes never leaving Sakura's jade orbs. "Sakura, a very pressing matter has come up that must be dealt with, and, you are one of the few ninja I trust completely, and you and Naruto are the strongest teenage ninjas I have, though this does not include Naruto at all, which brings me to my point."

"Is it akatsuki, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked, stomach knotting.

"Sort of, in a way" Tsunade said. " There has been a possible plan from the head of Root Danzo, is plotting to overthrow me for the title of Hokage."

"But if he is, then why haven't you and the elders arrested him?'

"There is no valid proof against him, but," Tsunade eyed Sakura, "That is where you come in Sakura."

"What do you mean, my lady?"

"I need someone to go into the heart of Root, to the archives where every Root meeting and missions are kept in a archive, and I know that nobody has ever gotten in and out of Root like that without being caught, then arrested." Tsunade took a deep breath. "Which is why I think that you are the only person who can get in and out of Root with the scroll containing proof of Danzo's plot to overthrow me alive, without being caught."

"But how will I get into Root? The Root guards will not let me in if I tried." Sakura asked.

"You will go in there dressed as a Root member and get that scroll, and come out alive. But," Tsunade warned, "If you get caught by a Root guard or anyone you will be executed for treason against the Leaf village, and even I cannot protect you if you get caught. And it will be impossible for you to go in there and come out without being caught, which is why this is a good opportunity…"

"You will get caught by my spy in the Root, Sakura, and when you do you must have the scroll, escape from the Root's base, and give me the scroll, then-"

"But Tsunade!" Sakura said, "If I am going to get caught, then this is a total suicide mission!"

"Sakura, be silent, you did not let me finish."

" When you give me the scroll, this is where the akatsuki part comes in." Tsunade said.

"The akatsuki part?" Sakura replied numbly.

"You will be branded as a s-class ranking missing-nin, the moment you do, I will have already packed you provisions and you must leave the village as soon as possible to go on the most dangerous mission I am going to assign you."

Sakura held her breath, waiting.

"You are to infiltrate the akatsuki."

Tsunade looked really serious now. "You must somehow join the akatsuki's ranks, gather useful information on them, their plans, their movements, their weaknesses, and everything. Only Shizune and I will know about this, and nobody else can know, especially Naruto and Kakashi, this mission has a unlimited amount of time, you must act cold and heartless like a missing-nin show no doubt that you are one and you must especially not let you emotions get in the way, this is extremely dangerous, but Sakura, I have the utmost faith in you. Do you accept these terms and accept the mission, under the possible consequence of death?"

Sakura was speechless. But then she thought, do it. In the name of protecting Naruto, stopping Danzo and taking down the akatsuki, she would do it even if she died doing it.

"I accept this mission, Tsunade-shitou," Sakura straightened, daring to look Tsunade straight in the eye. "Even if it costs me my life."


	2. Chapter 2: The archives of Root

Chapter 2: The archives of Root.

Sakura's heart pounded as loud as a drum in her chest as she walked down the grey, dull hallway that to the entrance of the Root base. She tried to slow down her breathing behind the porcelain white feline mask that was a part of her Root uniform. Tsunade had managed to swipe the outfit for her, it was plain black pants, a short sleeved black t-shirt, a purple chest protector, and of course, a white mask. Sakura still wore her high heeled black boots under her pants and her pink hair was tied in a ponytail.

Now, she looked exactly like a typical Root member.

There was one thing that she had not liked about this Root attire and it was not just the creepy white mask.

The Root members could know who was a Root member or not by a black tattoo in the shape of the Konoha symbol. She remembered gritting her teeth in pain when Tsunade put the tattoo on her with a needle. Tsunade told her she would have this tattoo for life.

Sakura approached the entrance to the Root base. Two guards were stationed there and opened the door for her when they saw the tattoo.

Sakura went by them and entered the base.

All the hallways were still a dull grey, but not so many Root members walked the halls this time of the day, for Tsunade had made sure that she would come in when there were less Root members around the place, making her job easier.

5 minutes later….

Sakura was in the deep part of the Root base, standing in front of a door that had a sign on it. It said: Root Archives.

Sakura looked down the hallways, making sure the coast was clear.

"All right," Sakura said to her Inner Sakura, "Here it goes…."

"Cha! Were going to knock their faces out!" shouted her Inner Sakura, who was doing a war dance of some type.

Sakura opened the door and slipped in, silently shutting the door behind her.

Sakura nearly fainted at the size of the room containing all the files.

"Oh, God how was she going to find that scroll to arrest Danzo?" she thought to herself.

Then she started looking through filing cabinet after filing cabinet for what seemed like an endless amount of time.

Four hours later….

Sakura's legs were so numb from all the continuous standing and squatting. Scroll after scroll, she and her brain were getting tired from reading.

She closed the filing cabinet, moving onto the next one. She had been in there for so long - four hours, for crying out loud, she had better find it….

Sakura sluggishly read three more scrolls and accidently bumped hard into the filing cabinet when a pile of scrolls fell out and she found it.

Mission: Overthrow Godaime Hokage Tsunade Senju by means of assassination, Danzo to become the sixth Hokage.

Approved: Danzo, and council elders.

Informed: Danzo, council elders, and Root members.

Sakura gasped, it was not only the fact that the council elders and the whole Root organization knew, but this mission was to take action in three and a half years from now. Yes! She'd done it!

Just as Sakura was about to pocket the scroll and bust her ass out here, three Root members walked in, talking amongst themselves.

They stopped and stared at Sakura, who had taken her mask off a few hours ago, she had gotten sweaty from continually breathing in that thing, and she was caught red-handed.

Sakura was so shocked she clumsily dropped the scroll in the pile of other scrolls she had looked at earlier.

One of the Root members, a male with brown hair, stepped forward with his arms crossed.

"Well, well, well, look who we got here," the Root member said, and Sakura imagined him smiling underneath that creepy mask. "if it isn't the Godaime Hokage's famous apprentice, Sakura Haruno, caught doing a little something that looks like a big offense and treason."

With that, the Root member and his companions unsheathed their katanas, letting the blades make a small, irritating, scathe-like sound as they were pulled from their scabbards.

"Treason my ass, you fools," Sakura sneered, without looking, picking the scroll up from where she dropped it. "If you think those sticks of yours can beat me, then you are seriously wrong."

She charged them, and they truly were poor excuses for Root members because she had them killed in under a minute.

With her business taken care of, she quietly exited the room.

She silently crept down the hall, when she came across three voices from a meeting room not too far away.

"Are the plans going as planned, Danzo?" came a female voice.

Sakura stiffened her grip on the scroll when she recognized the female elder of the council, and decided to eavesdrop.

She stepped closer to better hear the conversation.

"Yes," came Danzo's voice, "our plans are going well. In three and a half years, I will become Hokage and I am sorry to say, but this meeting cannot continue."

"But why Danzo? You had said this meeting was urgent."

"Because the Godaime Hokage's little lapdog is standing outside the door, listening in on our conversation."

Before Sakura could react the doors burst open.

Four Root members were standing on guard in the meeting room, and sitting in the center of the room was Danzo and the council elders with stern looks on their faces, eyes looking at the scroll in Sakura's hand, knowing she had heard their whole conversation.

"Treason!" Kohamara shouted, getting to her feet.

"You should talk about treason and betrayal, you three old bags," Sakura replied, keeping her voice steady.

Danzo gestured to the four guards.

"Kill her."

Two Root members rushed forward, but Sakura jumped and killed both of them in a second with chakra enhanced fists.

The two remaining Root members unsheathed their katanas, the steel of it calling for Sakura's blood. They charged her.

But Sakura was already one step ahead of them.

"All right," she thought to herself, "it's high time I busted out of here."

She bolted for the exit, killing the two Root members who were guarding the entrance when she first got in, not even giving them a second to register the fact that she had just betrayed her village.

Normally she would feel uncomfortable about killing them.

"Oh, but what do I care?" she thought, "they're all traitors." They were against what she was fighting for.

Then, she escaped from the Root base, running back down its grey, dull halls.


	3. Chapter 3: S-class missing-nin

Chapter 3: S-class missing-nin

As Sakura was running, she looked at the scroll to make sure it was still there. She realized she'd picked up the wrong one, for the scroll she needed had a purple sash tied around it but this one had a blood red crimson one instead.

"Damn it!" she yelled in her head, cursing herself for all the times she had studied and remembered so many medicines and herbs, she couldn't have picked up that scroll. But she knew it was to late to go back and get it as she jumped, the wind cool against her cheeks. "Damn it, damn it!"

By that time, she had sneaked into Tsunade's office, knowing it by heart now from so many times of coming in here to wake Tsunade to do their daily training. She looked around, knowing it would be a long time, maybe never that she would see this office ever again.

Tsunade was instantly in front of her, closing the curtains on the windows so they were not seen.

"Did you get it?" she said quickly, knowing Root members would be swarming the village any second, and Sakura could not afford to be caught.

"Shitou I'm sorry, I got the scroll and then I misplaced it." Sakura gulped, pocketing the scroll she had accidently took tight in her hand, her mentor was the scariest person in the world when she was angry. She could recall plenty of times she had seen Tsunade look terrifying, even the creepy sadistic Orochimaru or the powerful, intimidating Itachi Uchiha (well, maybe) were not as terrifying.

"You WHAT?" Tsunade roared, disbelief in her eyes, that her apprentice had not gotten the scroll.

"It was a mistake, Tsunade-shitou!" Sakura felt awful that she had failed Tsunade, the woman that she respected most and was like a surrogate mother to her. Please forgive me. But I really have to go, I killed some Root members and I don't have that much time."

Tsunade roughly threw a pack of provisions at her, peeking out the window from behind the green curtains.

Sakura grabbed it, swallowing hard as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks but she refused to let them fall, after having gone through so much training with Tsunade to cry. She would not be seeing Tsunade, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, her friends, and Konoha for a long time. And the next time they met, Sakura would be the enemy, hopefully a member of the akatsuki.

Tsunade walked up and hugged her tight. She had lost Nawaki, Dan, and now she might be losing another person that she loved. She could only could give Sakura her blessing before releasing the hug, knowing very well that she would miss her apprentice who was as close as a daughter to her while whispering, "Good luck Sakura."

"Good-bye, Tsunade."

With a flash of pink hair, the petal-haired ninja jumped through the window, and ran for her life, leaving behind all that she cared about.

Lightning Country, a random inn.

A few months later….

Sakura was laying on the bed in the inn she was staying at thinking about her next move and going to the border of the Wind Country for her next destination. That was all she basically thought about, nowadays besides what made her heart ache the most.

She sighed, missing her friends and Konoha so much. She knew it was Thursday, and every Thursday she would be sitting on one of the barstools at Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto laughing over steaming hot bowls of ramen. The memory seemed so sweet but so far away now.

She remembered the uproar her "betrayal" had caused by her leaving Konoha, the only home she had known.

She remembered her unforgettable escape, because it was one of the worst things she had to do in life. It constantly plagued her mind, at least twice a day, but she was snapped out of her thoughts as a knock came on the sliding shoji door.

"Room service!" Sakura winced at the high pitched voice in the hallway. It was probably that annoying maid that Sakura had seen earlier when she first walked in the inn. She had seen the maid flirting with the manager of this place, probably trying to get a raise most likely.

"I'm fine!" Sakura shouted, a little annoyed that her train of thought had been interrupted. "You can come back later!"

"Whatever." She heard the maid mutter under her breath, as she padded down the hallway.

Well, at least that snob is gone, now she could be left to her thoughts alone, in peace.

(Flashback)

Sakura's mind was racing as she ran to the great Konoha walls surrounding the village, they would be a bit difficult to get up with their massive size for any average ninja, but she could easily make it with no problem. Luckily, Tsunade's office was close to the walls, so she should be able to make it without interference.

Sakura jumped from roof top to roof top like a graceful gazelle for someone who specialized in breaking boulders, she was close to the walls, if only she could-

Just then, when she was so close to escape, a squad of Root members appeared in front of her, sharp and lethal katanas raised at her.

"Sakura Haruno, you are under arrest for treason against Konoha." The leader of the Root squad walked forward as he spoke, swinging his katana looking all business.

He lunged forward, aiming for her gut. She ducked and kicked the leader with her left leg at great speed, and sent him flying off the rooftop, and she heard a thump as he hit the ground.

"If you Root members are smart, you'll let me pass with no further complications." She got into her battle stance at the ready if they decided to attack her. She had dealt with Root members before, she had trained against some of them one time when Tsunade was too busy to train her.

"Hey Sakura!" came a familiar voice towards the fight.

Sakura's blood went cold and she nearly froze as she turned and saw Hinata Hyuuga, Ten Ten, and Rock Lee come running twenty feet from where Sakura was standing.

Sakura's chest tightened and she nearly swore. Why? Why did they have to be here, at this time! Things seemed to be taking a turn for the worse for Sakura today.

"Remember what Tsunade told you," she thought, "act like a missing-nin, act cold and heartless, you will truly have to fight them if it comes down to it, no holding back."

"What do you want?" Sakura said coldly, hoping they noticed her glare.

Hinata, Ten Ten, and Lee were take aback by her harsh attitude.

"Well, we were wondering if-" Ten Ten began, taking a few steps closer, "Wait. Sakura, why are these Root members here? And why is your fist covered in blood?"

"She is a traitor to the Leaf," One of the Root members said, "she has killed seven Root members, and violated over ten rules and must be arrested for treason and acts of violence against Konoha."

"Sakura, please tell me you didn't." Lee began only to be cut off by Sakura.

"What does it look like to you?" Sakura replied, crossing her arms firmly over her chest. "I can finally break free of my chains to this pathetic village and do whatever I please."

"S-Sakura," Hinata sputtered, byakugan forming in her lavender blue eyes, "p-please, we don't want to fight you."

"Tch, then don't."

Sakura ran forward, grabbing a kunai out of her pouch and killed the remaining Root members in a blink, cutting their throats. But just before she killed the last one, he threw a shuriken at her, she dodged it out of habit, though somehow it slashed a line across her forehead protector. It was at that moment that her fate as a rogue ninja was sealed forever.

Sakura was in a state of shock for a moment but snapped back and looked at her three now former friends as they ran at her.

Sakura missed a flight of shuriken from Ten Ten, who had pulled out her scroll full of weapons, and punched her in the face, sending her flying back 15 feet into Hinata, breaking her nose.

Sakura tensed. She needed to get out of here, fast and now.

She saw Lee coming for her, but she did not want to hurt her friends anymore then she already had. Time for a distraction, then get the heck out of here for good. Before Lee could reach her though, she slammed her fist hard into the top of the building she was standing on.

The building came crashing down beneath her feet, she jumped to the wall and started climbing up fast while using chakra to propel her forward. Her destruction had caused a huge amount of dust to cover her up.

She reached the top of the wall in no time, crouching to launch herself over. Sakura turned her head and looked down at the destruction. Lee who had a bloody cut on his lip but looked just fine was checking on Ten Ten, who's nose was bleeding a stream of red liquid. Hinata looked alright too, just a bit banged up. They all looked fine. She had no more reason to stay here.

"Well", she thought, getting sad all over again but quickly crushed it. She could not afford a pity party like the her twelve-year old self would have done. She was eighteen now, and she promised shortly after completing her training with Tsunade and becoming jounin that she would never cry again. "So much for my grand escape."

Sakura looked down at the village, using her hand to push her bangs out of her face. She saw other jounin coming towards the commotion, Kakashi and Naruto with them.

Sakura's lip started to quiver a little bit as she looked down at the remaining two remnants of team seven below.

"I'll miss you." She whispered, before turning around and jumping off the wall. The ground rushed up to greet her as she landed and ran into the forest. Leaving what mattered most behind.

(End flashback)

When Sakura had made it to the borderline of the Fire Country, she had stopped to wipe the sweat of her face after making sure no one was following her. She had then looked through the bag Tsunade had given her.

It had a bag of toiletries, a small kit of medicine and herbs, and it looked like Tsunade had taken some of her clothes from her house, because there was her normal red vest, black spandex capri's, pink apron skirt, and pink elbow bands inside. There were also some normal civilian clothes Sakura occasionally wore when she was not on a mission, a black skirt, some spare red and sapphire blue bras and panties, and a white short-sleeved t-shirt. To top it off, a huge wad of money that nearly made Sakura choke at how much it was.

Already, three Anbu squads had managed to find her, probably sent by Danzo, most likely. But these were not Root members, so she didn't kill them, but gave them a good knockout.

Sakura was still in contact with Tsunade and Shizune, they sent each other messages every week to keep each other informed. Sakura also made sure to tip off Tsunade about the village Elders being in on Danzo's scheming plans too.

Not only that, but Sakura was getting frustrated. The akatsuki was down to six members now, the Zetsu guy got killed a month and a half ago, and they needed a new member. Besides that, Sakura was now top of the list in the bingo book, passing Orochimaru and was just behind the currently known akatsuki members. Also, Sakura was the Godaime hokage's apprentice, said to have nearly surpassed Tsunade by now as a full-out combat medic. Wasn't that good enough?

Sakura was now trying to think what her friends were doing. She hung her head, knowing what she had done was putting Naruto through hell, because now he had not only lost Sasuke, but Sakura as well.

Sakura, much to her regret, was for once happy that her parents were dead, having died two years ago on a mission. She couldn't bear it if they saw her as this.

Sakura emptied her thoughts and walked into the bathroom that came with the suite she had bought.

She got the bathtub water running and she stripped off her clothes, dumping them in a pile near the tub and got in, letting the hot water soothe her. Sakura hung her head back in pleasure.

"I think I'll just relax." She told herself. She allowed herself to close her eyes and enjoy this while it lasted.


	4. Chapter 4: Plans

Chapter 4: Plans.

Akatsuki base, Hidden Rain village

In a tall tower, in a large industrial city where the rain never stops, an auburn-haired man with strange metal piercings all over him sat back in his chair in a dark room, thinking in solitude.

Pein, the leader of the akatsuki and ruler of the Hidden Rain village waited his most trusted person to come in.

The large wooden door opened and a serious looking woman with purple hair walked in silently though with grace that was hard for any ninja to pull off. She was his partner, and she was the only one out of the entire akatsuki that he trusted.

"Pein," Konan started, and Pein already knew what she was going to talk to him about. That was all that they ever talked about, the akatsuki, their goal to dominate the world, and how to better the akatsuki so no one could stand against them. "there is an important matter we must discuss-"

"I already know what you have to say Konan," Pain interrupted with no apology. He was the leader and he was a busy man that had no time for time. "with now just six members left, we do not have enough members to seal the bijuu."

"Yes," said Konan who appeared to have been minded at all by the interruption. "Which is why-"

"We need a new member." Pein cut in again this time impatience shown clearly in his eyes, after so many years together, only Konan would have caught up on even the slightest flicker of emotion he had. "Not just any member, but an incredibly strong member and powerful member, one that will remain loyal at all times to the akatsuki."

Pein meant what he said about the loyalty part. He had no doubt that Konan, Tobi, Kisame, and Itachi were fully loyal to this organization. But after Orochimaru's defection, Sasori's death, along with Hidan and Kakuzu's, but that pair were twin loose cannons anyway, and Deidara was so obsessed with art he was not sure.

"Shall we choose one then?" Konan and Pein usually selected the next member when the time came. "Because it is really hard to find someone like that nowadays, the last ninja like that who joined the akatsuki was Itachi."

"I have already selected one." He replied curtly, surprising Konan. "And she is perfect for the job."

"She?" Konan said, arching a eyebrow a bit. "And has Madara agreed with this as well?"

Pein wordlessly opened a drawer in his desk moving aside some papers, and pulled out the red bingo book. Pein flipped halfway through the small red book and placed it in front of Konan, who leaned forward to get a better view.

"Well," Konan slowly let a small, rare smile come across her face that was rarely seen. "You certainly picked the right new member."

"Yes, she will make a strong asset to the akatsuki," Purple Rinnegan eyes looked Konan squarely in the eyes. "Not only that, but she was the Godaime hokage's apprentice, and it is said that she has nearly surpassed Tsunade by now, she is jounin rank before she left her village behind and is now s-class."

Konan was rarely surprised or impressed hardly but a kunoichi with such skill and at such a young age…. That girl would be the second youngest to join the akatsuki.

"Also to mention," Konan added, "she also killed Sasori back a while ago and she used to be the kyuubi vessel's teammate and friend."

"All the more reason why she fits the bill." Pein by then had picked up the book and looked at the picture inside before putting it back in the contents of his desk.

It was a picture of a pink-haired teenage girl of unnatural color with fierce, green eyes that had a small fire of behind them.

Name: Sakura Haruno

Occupation: S-class missing-nin

Crimes/offenses done: killed seven Root members, fatal injuries to two chunin and one jounin, destroyed property and violated over ten rules.

Hailed village: Hidden Leaf village, Konohagakure

Rank: S-class, extremely dangerous.

Age: 18.

Known for: Godaime hokage's former apprentice/accomplice.

Pein snapped the book shut, and put it back into his drawer. He turned to Konan.

"Konan,' he drawled, "contact Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara right away and tell Tobi to stay put where he is until I say so."

Konan stared at him confused.

"I thought you wanted all akatsuki members to reamin low for a few months, Itachi and Kisame will have to put out more time to hunt the four-tails."

"I will give Itachi and Kisame more time." Pein looked at Konan impatiently. "And tell them to come here to the Hidden Rain village."

Konan nodded and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Pein looked out the window at his village that he ruled, waiting for the akatsuki members to come.

Random inn, Lightning country

Sakura's eyes flew open, after realizing the now cold water had woken her up and she had fallen asleep in the bathtub.

Sakura's instincts suddenly kicked in, and it mad the hairs on her neck stand up.

She stumbled out of the tub, drying herself off as she went. She quickly got changed, and packed her bag.

"Something's wrong," she thought to herself, and she needed to get out of Lightning Country, fast, then move on to the land of the wind.

Hokage Tower, Fire Country.

Tsunade stared at her reflection through the clear see-through glass that was filled with her favorite sake that she still hid from Shizune.

Things had been going slow in the hospital lately, even with both Shizune and Ino there were no where near as good medics as Sakura.

Sakura, she sighed, remembering the last few hours after her prized pupil had left.

(Flashback)

Tsunade watched as Sakura leaped out the window in her office, and she spotted a squad of Root members coming after her apprentice. Not that they stood a chance against Sakura anyways.

"Alright now," she told herself in her head, she would need to play out her part carefully as well, and act composed when they come to tell her about Sakura's "crime."

So, she seated herself at behind her desk and got to her never-ending pile of boring paperwork like any normal day.

It had only taken twenty minutes before some chuunin messenger nearly broke down the door from rushing into her office so fast.

"Alright, showtime," Tsunade reminded herself as she set down her paperwork and pen.

Next thing she knew she had already barked at the chuunin, demanding to know why he had barged in like this and to next time have some descent manners and knock on the door before entering or else she would throw him out the window.

"Its your apprentice Sakura," the poor chuunin sputtered, holding onto the doorframe for some support. "she has betrayed the Leaf village, killing seven Root members, and causing injury to Ten Ten, Rock Lee, and the Hyuuga heiress Hinata Hyuuga."

"WHAT!" Tsunade roared, scaring the life put of the quivering chuunin.

At the same time, Naruto and Kakashi came running in throwing the doors open and smashing them against the walls with a big thud.

Oh great. Now she would have to put on a damn good show in front of those two.

Granny!" Naruto panted, "Where's Sakura? Why did she attack Hinata, Ten Ten, and Bushy Brows? Why is everyone in such a huge uproar? Do you know why?"

Tsunade closed off her emotions to play it smooth.

She then explained to Naruto the whole Sakura "betrayal" thing.

Kakashi listened as he saw the hokage tell Naruto about Sakura being a traitor, and Tsunade saw a brief flicker of betrayal and pain in his eyes before he closed his emotions off.

Naruto stood still, clenching his fists so tightly that they turned pale white white. "No," he whispered," no. no no."

"No, no, no. no No."

"Naruto," Tsunade said, "quit-"

"BUT WHY!?" Naruto bellowed in fury, "why would Sakura do that? WHY?!"

"Naruto calm yourself" Tsunade and kakashi said in unison, not wanting to hear yet another of Naruto's rants.

'Does it look like I damn can?" Naruto yelled, storming around the front of Tsunade's desk like a madman. "First Sasuke, now Sakura…."

Naruto slumped in a chair, with his face in his hands, looking the saddest he had ever been in four years. Tsunade heard footsteps towards her office.

Just then, Yamato and Sai rushed into her office.

Tsunade nearly let out a groan. Great. More commotion and explaining. Couldn't they just let her be in peace?

"Hokage, is it true that-" Sai took a quick glance at the crumpled form of Naruto before stopping himself.

"So it's true, then. Sakura has betrayed us."

"Yes." Kakashi answered for Tsunade, leaning against the wall with his arms lightly crossed.

Tsunade stiffened at being interrupted, nobody ever dared to interrupt her unless if they wanted to get kicked into next week. But this was a different matter, so she let it pass.

"What happens now? Do we go after her?" Yamato stepped forward with a disappointed look on his face. "I never expected Sakura to betray."

'Sakura is not a traitor!" Naruto jumped to his feet and Tsunade wondered if his energy ever ran out. "She's, she's…."

"A rogue ninja it would seem."

Everyone turned to the door at the sound of that voice. Naruto looked at him confusedly, Kakashi, Sai, Yamato looked impassive, and Tsunade's stomach tightened under guard. Of course, she had known she would have to meet him at some point.

Danzo stood there at the door, cane in hand walking through the office like he owned it. Tsunade would have to try to leash her anger somehow.

"Everybody out" She snapped. She was so not in the mood for this, now she knew she was going to drink herself drunk tonight and maybe smash a few boulders."except Naruto, Kakashi, and …. Danzo."

Everybody filed out of the room, Tsunade seated herself back at her desk just to remind Danzo that she was still hokage, and he would not do anything to disobey her orders.

"What do you want at this time of the day, Danzo?" Tsunade smiled innocently, the light pinkness of her lipstick widening as she rested her chin on one hand.

Danzo raised an eyebrow, as if amused.

'Well, first I want your former apprentice's head on a pike for this insult of killing seven of my Root members."

Kakashi's one regular eye widened, Naruto stiffened, then glared hardly at Danzo as if he wanted to pummel the old man.

"We are civilized people Danzo, not savages." Tsunade really wanted to really kick him out of the office now, he actually had the nerve to bring up such a thing!

'Then what will you do about it hokage?' Danzo let the word hokage drag out longer then needed and Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him.

Tsunade listed all the possibilities she could do. Most of them would be unrational, so she did the least harmful thing she could do in this situation. "Here it goes, may you not have my horrible lack of luck at fate." She secretly prayed that in her head as she delivered her message.

"The first thing I can do" Tsunade replied naruto was not going to like this. "brand her as a missing-nin."

"No!" Naruto shouted frantically, "Granny Tsunade please-"

"Naruto be silent!" she yelled, pounding her fist on her desk.

"And?' Danzo added while leaning on his cane, impatiently.

Tsunade had just enough of him. Fine. If she could not give him the beating of his life, she was going to tell him to shut up and get the hell out of her office.

"I am also officially allowing her to not only be captured and given back to the village, but killed if necessary."

"Excellent." Danzo turned to leave, but Tsunade was not done.

"Just a second Danzo."

"Yes, hokage?"

"Just so we're clear. You, will not interrupt me in such a rude manner, and if you do so again, I will chuck you off the hokage monument right onto a thorn bush. Now get the hell out of my office." Tsunade stood from her desk, and pointed to the door. " did you not hear me? Get out of my office now, or I will send for Shizune to bring you a wheelchair."

Danzo looked furious and stalked out of the office. Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but he and Kakashi left too.

(End of flashback)

Tsunade sipped her sake, lounging in her chair.

There was a knock on the door and Tsunade had hoped it was Shizune with more sake. But it was Naruto who came bounding into her office, followed closely by Kakashi and Sai.

Tsunade knew what Naruto was here for. Even if she did not want to grant it, but she knew it was time.

"Granny," Naruto began, and Naruto could have sworn that Tsunade looked a little bit grumpy about something, maybe the old gheezer Elders were hounding on her again or she didn't want to deal with paperwork. "I know I've asked this many times already, but-"

"Yes." Tsunade hoped this would put an end to his ranting for a while, and Naruto's eyes blazed. "Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai, I hereby give you permission with the help of Neji and Hinata Hyuuga to accompany you to…."

Rain village, Akatsuki base

Itachi and Kisame walked down the dark halls, black and red akatsuki robes swishing behind them from the wetness of the rain outside as they softly treaded towards Pein's office. They had just arrived in the Rain village minutes ago, having been taken off from their hunt to search for the four-tails.

"Hymph, I am curious to hear the reason as to what is so important for Konan to drag us here to leader-sama," Kisame was annoyed when Konan had appeared at one of the akatsuki's bases in the Lightning country and told them to be at leader-sama's immiediately.

"Indeed." Itachi was a bit more annoyed then Kisame was because he always finished in a mission in the time given to no matter how difficult, but he had to come back anyways.

Itachi's sharingan saw a small flying mass of chakra flying towards the window they were passing and Itachi knew Deidara was here to join them as well. Kisame caught on, because after being paired for so long, he could now catch up on Itachi's signals when he saw something.

SMASH! The windows glass shattered and a clay bird poked it's head in. On its back, with a golden mane of hair flowing behind him was Deidara, with a cocky smirk on his face. A big shard of glass had scraped a big cut on Kisame's arm, which emitted a growl from him.

"Watch where you fly in Blondy or sameheda's gonna eat you for dinner." Kisame was fed up with so many of Deidara's unneeded entrances after all his years in Akatsuki.

"What did you say!?" Deidara got an insane look on his face for vengeance.

"Must you always make such a overdramatic entrance?" Kisame growled, fingernails just brushing the hilt of sameheda.

"No that was just a detour, Kisame my man."

They all fell silent as they walked towards Pein's office and went in. Pein stared at them as they took their seats on the leather couches in the room.

Pein went straight to the point as always.

"I have called you three here for a short mission," All three Akatsuki members said nothing as he continued. " we are going to have a new member in Akatsuki shortly."

Itachi still stayed silent when Deidara and Kisame's eyebrows raised.

"She," Kisame and Deidara straightened at this, interested that the next intended was to be a female, and Konan would not be the only woman on Akatsuki. "is an extremely skilled ninja, and is perfect to become Akatsuki's newest member."

Itachi, though he appeared bored with this whole thing, found it interesting that a kunoichi would be joining because mostly it was only males that ever made it in. Well, he would be rather interested to meet this woman. But he had heard enough. He wanted to get back to his real mission now.

"This is to be our newest member." Pein laid out the red bingo book on his desk and it was flipped to the picture of the said woman.

Itachi looked at the picture, and he saw a pink-haired teenager with emerald-mint eyes, and creamy white skin. She was beautiful and nearly rivaled the hokage Tsunade's beaut.. Somehow, she looked familiar….

"Hey, isn't that the girl that killed Sasori yeah?"

"Yes" Pain replied, seemingly not being bothered that this woman killed a member of the Akatsuki. "she is."

Kisame was taken aback by this, he knew this Sakura girl was skilled, but to kill Sasori of the Red sand? This was a intriguing kunoichi.

Itachi clicked the puzzle pieces together. He finished reading the file, how could have he forgotten? His younger brother's former teammate and as well as the kyuubi vessel's. He had seen her once before when he and Kisame had been assigned to stop anyone from interrupting the extraction of shukaku, but that was only once. For her to become a missing-nin, that was rare for a konoha ninja to betray the village.

"She is also one of the most wanted rogue ninja and the entire world, more then Orochimaru, now, your mission is to…."

Hokage tower, Fire Country

(Tsunade speaking) "is to track…."

Rain village, Akatsuki base

(Pein speaking) "and hunt down…."

Hokage Tower, Fire Country

(Tsunade speaking) "Sakura…."

Rain village, Akatsuki base

(Pein speaking) "Haruno…."

Hokage Tower, Fire Country

(Tsunade speaking) "and bring her…."

Rain village, Akatsuki base

(Pein speaking) "here…."

Hokage Tower, Fire Country

(Tsunade speaking) "at all…."

Rain village, Akatsuki base

(Pein speaking) "costs needed."

(Whew, that was a long one for all you guys! I had to get this chapter in because I am going to Cape Cod for a one week vacation, I am leaving tomorrow and will not be able to update chapter five until after an entire week. Reviews please!)


	5. Chapter 5: Hunt for a cherry blossom

Chapter 5: The hunt for a cherry blossom

Sakura handed the bill to the old inn keeper before high tailing it to the woods. The old man had been in the middle of his morning coffee and had spilled some of it on his pants at the site of a pink flash going by him. Kids these days, the old man mused, what happened to slowing down and enjoying life? A far cry out from Sakura's case.

With her pink hair flying behind her, Sakura turned in the direction of the Wind country, but she would only be at the borderline there because she would not hold it against any Sunagakure ninja to recognize the Godaime's apprentice.

After all, the two nations of Konoha and Suna were allies who shared the chuunin exams once a year, Sakura was always at Tsunade's side whenever it happened.

She had a bad feeling that this was going to get worse. She didn't like it when she got this feeling, it usually happened before something bad would come rolling in.

She jumped from tree to tree with chakra making her go inhumanly fast, but also spread her chakra out to see if anyone was nearby.

Konoha's front gates, Fire country

Naruto was zipping his orange top as he raced to the front gates of Konoha, closely followed by Kakashi, Sai, Hinata, and Neji. He took a quick look up at the walls. They were so tall, he had heard tales that Sakura had climbed them during her escape after her betrayal from the local civilians.

Ever since then, limestone was rubbed on both sides of the walls so that it was to slippery for anyone to climb ever again. Somehow he thought that this was not Tsunade's suggestion, but someone else's.

The rest of his team that he would be traveling with caught up to him.

"Slow down Naruto!" Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder firmly, "We don't even know where Sakura is, and with the Akatsuki running about, I am not allowing you to run headfirst in to the wilderness."

"Yes, and we will not find Haruno unless my byakugan senses her chakra." Naruto bristled a little bit. Neji clearly still had a bit of arrogance about him which he always had, and Naruto almost reminded everyone that they had Hinata too, but he was right.

"I-I wonder if we'll find her." Hinata nervously fiddled with her fingers a bit, a habit she had never liked that she just could never get rid of.

"Of course we'll find her Hinata!" he chimed in cheerfully. After he got Sakura back, he could go for Sasuke next."We'll find her, bring her back, and everything will be back to normal again as soon as we find also find Sasuke."

Kakashi sighed. Naruto was still slow on the uptake.

"Naruto," Kakashi was slowly breaking it down. Naruto needed to understand that by now, Sakura was no longer the sweetheart that Naruto used to know. "Sakura will not come back willingly, and she is a rogue ninja so we will take her by force."

Naruto was silent. Hinata looked at him sadly. She always felt like Naruto would never cherish her so closely like he was with Sakura, but she promised herself one day, that she would be Naruto Uzumaki's wife. She watched closely as pain flashed through his brilliant blue eyes in understanding before they flahed open.

"Alright," he snarled, fist starting to curl in white balls. "whatever she may be, I will drag her by her pink hair back to Konoha if I have to!"

"That is, if we can even catch her genius." Sai knew that bringing Sakura back was going to be no cakewalk, as her dominating strength she had spoke for itself. He vaguely wondered how his former comrade had gone from, what was the term? Sweet to sour? He hoped to find out.

"Then lets go." They all dashed away from Konoha and into its sweeping forests.

About half a day went by until Neji narrowed his eyes. That was it.

"Everyone, I sense Sakura Haruno's chakra somewhere."

"Where Neji? Where?" Naruto yelled in his eagerness.

"She's headed to the Wind country and if we go faster we can intercept her at its borderline."

Without another word, they picked up speed.

Rain village, Akatsuki base

Pein dismissed them from his office with nothing more to say. They walked in a three way line down the halls of the tower while the rain pelted the glass windows they strode by.

"So, where do you think this Sakura is yeah?" Deidara didn't give a hoot that she killed Sasori danna, after all, it proved his theory of art right. Even though it bothered him to be on a mission with Itachi who he still had never forgiven for him for forcing him into Akatsuki but he was rather curious about the newcomer. He also liked her name- Sa-ku-ra, it sounded both sexy but had a deadly sound to it.

"From, what her file said, she was last seen in Lightning country, so we shall start our search there." Itachi walked forward ahead of Deidara and Kisame while fastening his cloak. They had finished climbing the long staircase before reaching the door.

"Well, so this organization will be getting a little cherry blossom. How interesting." Kisame had a grin plastered to his face after saying this.

"Oi, Kisame are you really thinking what I think you are thinking?" Deidara couldn't help but snicker. The Haruno girl was quite a nice catch.

"No, she to young and thin for my taste."

"Are you to done fantasizing such childish thoughts so that we may leave?" Itachi was starting to get mildly annoyed at his partners for thinking of nothing but the mission. The last thing he wanted to hear the two talking about was the pink hared ninja that they had not even met.

Deidara gave him a heated glare and slipped on the scope he always put on his left eye. Kisame shrugged while strapping sameheda on tighter.

Itachi stared at them icily before opening the door and striding out. "Let's go."

They ran to find the pinkette as the rain started hailing on them as they departed.

Borderline of Wind country

Sakura was slowly starting to tire. She had run almost all day and was fatiguing from going so fast and long while using her chakra to find any presences that might be in the area. But she could easily make it. Leaving the woods behind her, the grass started to turn into rough, coarse dirt sand as she neared the desert.

Then her chakra picked up something. The roseatte could feel five chakras form the direction of the Fire Country and three especially powerful one from the direction of the Rain village. At the speed that she and all the other chakras were going, she would not be able to outrun them at the moment so she stopped and waited for them to come.

The five chakras were closest.

Sakura wished she could disappear as she saw Naruto, jaw set in a determined line, Kakashi close behind him then came Hinata, Neji, and Sai who all tensed as they got closer to her.

"Show no fear," she told herself. No way was she afraid of them, it was just the fact that she would have to hurt them again, and she was not comfortable with it at all.

When they were fifteen feet away, she spoke.

"Naruto, Kakashi," she said casually like they were not here to fight each other, letting a twisted smile she had practiced cross her face. "long time, no see."

Kakashi stared at her emotionlessly but had an icy brevity to it The rest looked passive, so Naruto spoke.

"Sakura."

Sakura stared at Naruto, nearly shaking from wanting to hug him, to tell him it was going to be all right, to comfort and reassure him that she was not his enemy. But that was not the case.

"Naruto," she let out a sigh but tried to look annoyed, like she didn't care about him. "just let me go okay? Go after Sasuke and just forget me."

Naruto stared at her even longer.

"No Sakura." She widened her eyes in disbelief. Perhaps being away from him for a long time had made her forget just how stubborn he was. Naruto continued as he took a cautious step forward. "I can't let you go, and I can't forget you."

Silence. Every one waited for Sakura's response. Sakura was surprised at this because even though Sakura saw that Naruto did not want to put harm on her, the others looked a bit hell bent on getting her back to throw her into a jail cell.

"But why?' she whispered a quietly, feeling torn.

"Because you're my friend, and I never give up on my friends."

Sakura restrained herself from letting out a cheer and jumping in the air fist pumping.

"No Naruto," she snapped, getting more frustrated. He was making it more difficult then it should be he had to just let go for two more years. "I'm a rogue ninja now. Even if you did somehow manage to take me back to Konoha, you know what my fate would be." She swallowed. "Execution."

Naruto, Hinata, even Neji looked at her in surprise, while Kakashi and Sai looked grim. Huh. So it seems they knew this from the beginning.

"K-Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata sputtered. Sakura raised an eyebrow. So she still had that sputtering problem? Hinata kept rambling. "Is it true?"

"Yes it is." Murmered Kakashi. He crossed his arms, thinking over how many times he had gone through this same situation countlessly as an anbu. Even as a kid too.

"Wait a second!" shouted Naruto as he marched up in a storm to the silver haired sharingan wielder. "You are saying that Sakura's going to be executed!?"

Kakashi looked at Sakura hard. He never thought she would be the one out of team seven to do this such as Sasuke did. Sakura would never be the innocent girl he used to know.

"Naruto, don't ever call her your friend," he spat out, anger and betrayal in his eyes. Sakura squinted to be sure she was seeing this clearly. Her old sensei was letting his emotions slip? Kakashi's hand was inching its way down to a kunai in his kunai pouch. "because those who disobey orders are trash, but those that abandon their friends are even worse then trash.

Those words stabbed her heart though the acting part was getting easier and easier for her. Now she just had to convince Naruto to hate her as well. The earlier words still stung though. Suddenly, she was mad. Really mad. She had given up everything for this mission, and this was how she was being treated? She knew they did not know that this was an act, but man, it hurt. She was never one to have anger control.

"Well, at least I did not let my friends die like you did, Kakashi!" Sakura now wanted him to come at her, she was so riled up and furious to make him pay for that remark.

Dead silence that time. Not even birds or mosquitoes were heard. Only the faint breeze of the wind.

Sakura regretted it instantly. "No, I-I didn't mean that…."

"What is she talking about?" Sai's dark eyes flickered back and forth between Sakura and Kakashi. "What does she mean Kakashi?"

But Naruto knew what it meant, he knew the story about Obito Uchiha.

He could not believe it. How could sweet, kind, caring Sakura turn into such a heartless being? Naruto's blue eyes turned red for a second and he wanted to kill her with his bare hands. The voice of the Kyuubi was talking to him, chiding him to make Sakura scream in pain as he tasted her blood. Naruto shuddered at the thought and warded the nine-tails off. Nonetheless, Sakura still deserved a broken arm from his viewpoint.

"That was low Sakura," he growled, enough talk. "I never thought you would say something as so low that you have become even worse then trash and do deserve execution after all."

It seems he had given up on her, she thought sadly but they would be friends again someday. She was mad at them for being so blind, for thinking that they were so damn self-righteous ninja while they had two corrupt village elders to ruin it. The damned hypocrites. Her rage exploded.

"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I LEFT?" she roared. "I LEFT THE VILLAGE BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO BE IN A VILLAGE WITH A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITES THAT PREACH THEMSELVES ABOUT BEING SO DAMN LOYAL AND SELF RIGHTEOUS IT MAKES ME SICK WHILE BEING UNDER THE RULE OF A CORRUPT VILLAGE!"

Everyone was shocked at Sakura's speech.

"Now you know, why I abandoned the village."

It wasn't true obviously, though it was close enough.

"What do you mean Sakura?'

The petal haired ninja recognized it as Sai's voice.

Sakura remembered Sai used to be a Root member, Danzo and the Elders probably sent him to kill her to keep the evidence of their schemes quiet! What if he knew about the plan to overthrow Tsunade too? Maybe he was in on it.

"I'm sure you would know Sai." This was merely a test to see if he was in on it after all. Though only confusion showed itself on Sai. It would seem he wasn't.

"Now you're blaming Sai?!" Naruto's face was red like a tomato now from madness. "That's it, you're coming to Konoha whether you like it or not even if I have to drag you back!"

"Its about time." She muttered, she had been waiting for him to strike the whole time.

Before Naruto could do anything though, Kakashi mad the first move in blinding speed. He charged her a kunai in hand to throw her off probably. Sakura did a jump backwards, she thought it would be Naruto to fight he, not Kakashi. She would need a distraction to rethink her plan. Without further ado, she punched the ground, creating a massive crater while jumping out of the dust onto her feet in the clear air.

Sakura would have to be quick with her movements against someone like Kakashi because if one of her moves were to slow to deliver, it could be fatal to her. Kakashi jumped out of the dust in no time.

They ended up doing close combat, Sakura blocked his kick with her arms the same time he blocked hers. Kakashi tried to stab her arm with a kunai but she grabbed his other hand and snapped his wrist. In return he retaliated by aiming a kick to her shoulder. That would leave a bruise the next morning.

Kakashi had to admit as he fought his former student, she had more speed then she ever did. Probably learned a few more tricks from Tsunade before she left. It wouldn't surprise him, Tsunade and Sakura had a mother/daughter relationship that made most of the kunoichis in the village such as Ino and Hinata who idolized Tsunade a bit jealous of Sakura's relationship with the hokage. For better or worse, part of him wanted to believe the old Sakura was there, but it seemed impossible to change her feelings now. He would help Naruto bring her back aside form his harsh words earlier.

She took a quick look at a fast approaching Naruto who was joining the fray. He was charging her while building up the rasengan. Still fought with his relentlessness and was still reckless with no thought to his actions that was for sure.

If that rasengan hit her, she would be done for. Time for a surprise.

She gave one last kick to Kakashi's stomach just in time to catch the wrist that Naruto's rasengan was on easily. With that move her kick connected with Naruto in the face and broke cut his lip deep while unshed tears started to gather in her eyes. Hinata caught Naruto and shot a look of distaste at Sakura.

Naruto instantly got up and ran at her just as Kakashi ran at her too.

Sakura threw a shuriken at Kakashi just as a blue chidori came her way. Shit, the rasengan she knew how to make it disappear, but she never tried the chidori. She had to hurry, the chirping came closer. She flipped over his head, skimming the silver hairs on his head and landed behind him. Now if she could just nail him with one of her medic ninjutsu….

A fast movement of black and red streaked by her and forced Kakashi back. Followed shortly behind it was a flash of red, black, and ….white? Then Sakura got a good look. The tall, bandaged sword, and most of all, the striking resemblance of Sasuke and crimson eyes that could send fear into anyone that dared look into them.

Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki.

Sakura jumped back, distancing herself from both parties.

She saw Itachi glance at her before he and Hoshigaki engaged Naruto and Kakashi in battle. Kakashi motioned for the two Hyuuga's and Sai to back them up.

Hinata had other ideas, though. She to also wanted to believe that the old Sakura was there, and if she helped bring her back, Naruto would be happy again. This time, she would give Sakura a real fight, unlike last time when Sakura broke her nose. The Hyuuga heiress ran at her most fast speed she could go at her former friend.

Sakura had seen Hinata coming and was prepared. She had sparred countless times with Neji Hyuuga and had memorized the moves of the gentle fist the Hyuuga clan used. She had Hinata's number written down.

She flung herself at the dark haired girl from the Hyuuga clan and blocked a fist from her while on the job. She aimed her punch towards Hinata's neck to knock her out cold but Hinata had not given in yet. She grabbed the pinkette's hand and they were face to face.

"Give up Hinata, there is no way any of you can bring me back." Sakura stared into her byakugan eyes with a grave expression. "Just go home."

"Do you know what you did to us, Sakura?" Hinata almost whispered in a sad tone. "What you did to Naruto? Do you know how sad he was when you left? Did you even think of no one but yourself when you abandoned us?"

Hinata felt sadness go to anger, and she wanted to show Sakura what she could do. Secretly, she had always admired Sakura's incredible strength that made even male ninja's cower before her, her kind, loving nature, how she never gave up, her medical ninjutsu that closely rivaled Tsunade's, and her will. "Naruto loved and cherished you, even Ino, Temari, and Ten Ten were jealous that you not only had Tsunade, but you were so strong. Even I looked up to you!" Hinata found herself hollering loudly, Sakura's eyes widened. Hinata never hollered. She just didn't. It would seem she had underestimated how much she meant to her friends, she had personally thought before she left the village that they would eventually forget their friendship and move on. Sakura listened to more of what Hinata had to say. "And now, you have just turned into some cruel, selfish, heartless person that I don't know anymore!"

"I understand your anger at my leaving Hinata," Sakura calmly addressed the quivering girl. "but it was for the greater good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hinata still had waves of anger flowing of her in clumps. She was shocked as Sakura hugged her tightly, so she couldn't move her arms.

"It means, good-bye." Sakura whispered those last words softly into Hinata's ear before reaching up to a point in her neck and jabbed her right there. The lavender eyed girl fell to the ground unconscious.

"Lady Hinata!" Neji called, running at Sakura with a look of anger that swore to take her down. Sakura picked Hinata's body up and tossed it in the air straight at the surprised Hyuuga. He caught her fluidly. That gave Sakura the advantage to kick his legs out from underneath him. He went to his knees with a grunt.

"Traitor!" Neji declared to her with a look of betrayal on his face, holding hinata protectively to him.

"Hell yeah." Sakura had accepted her fate a while ago. She did one last powerful kick to him that sent him fifty feet back and he was crumpled in the dirt with Hinata still in his arms. Sakura bit her lip sadly and tore her eyes away from them as she watched the other battles ensue.

"What do you want Uchiha?" Kakashi said coldly while getting into a battle stance.

"Our business is not with you Hatake." Kisame answered snidely, already unwrapping his swords bandages.

"Oh, let me guess, you're here to capture me for the fox." Naruto bit out, then snarled.

"Unfortunately, that is not the case," Itachi replied calmly, though he seemed ready to fight at any second. She wouldn't put it past him if he did. "Our business is not with you, but with her."

Itachi pointed at Sakura his red eyes pinning her down.

"Oh really?" Sakura replied sarcastically. "And what do you want with me?"

She couldn't believe it-they had actually and probably were going to make her an Akatsuki member! Well she hoped, but what else could they want her for? For now she had to keep a cool head.

Kisame raised his eyebrows in annoyance that Itachi and he were being back talked to.

But Itachi did not seem nettled at all, regarding her with cool, calm eyes.

"Our leader requires an audience with you, Sakura Haruno."

"Leave Sakura alone!" Naruto started making his way to Sakura and Itachi. "she wouldn't go with you, even if it meant death for her!"

Sakura wanted to tell Naruto to shut up, this was how things were supposed to be going, for Kami's sake! But found herself saying this instead.

"I can go with them if I want to Naruto, so stay out of it."

"But they're murdering bastards!" Naruto looked in disbelief at Sakura like she had gone crazy. "Even you would not join them!"

"I never said I would," Sakura said while narrowing her eyes. "I can do whatever I want."

"You won't deny a offer form the Akatsuki," Sakura turned and got her first view of Kisame. Kami, Ten Ten had been right, he was very scaly. Kisame grinned at her malevolently. "no one has ever turned down from the Akatsuki. Ever."

"We'll see about that won't we?" Sakura bit out saucily.

Itachi didn't seem threatened by more people at all. In fact, he rather seemed _bored._ He was by far the most graceful ninja that she had seen the way he moved so quickly, he barely touched the ground with his feet and it almost seemed like he was doing a graceful dance of some sort. The wicked graceful dance of death for sure, Sakura thought.

Kisame swung sameheda like it was no weight at all and nearly shredded half of Naruto's right side into ribbons while Naruto tried to get close to Kisame with yet another rasengan. The battle was so intense as before that the Hyuuga's and Sai couldn't find a way to really join the fight. Kakashi kicked Itachi in the face but it was a substitution so it disappeared in a poof of smoke. Itachi reappeared behind Kakashi and the two fought. Itachi did a shadow clone secretly so that Kakashi would be distracted by it as he disappeared in a blur.

She stiffened as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Sakura turned and gazed into the eyes of Itachi Uchiha. How did he get there so fast? His speed was so…. almost unhuman. Well, if anything Sakura thought as she stared straight onto his forehead not wanting to be caught in the tsyukinomi Sasuke is going to need every bit of training he can get if he wants to beat out Itachi. From the looks of it, Itachi could easily defeat Sasuke blindfolded with an arm tied around his back.

Out of all times, her Inner spoke.

"Oh, Itachi looks so hot!" she giggled.

"Inner, get out of here this is not the time for this!" Sakura screamed at her Inner.

Her Inner tramped away.

"What are you-"

"I suggest you come with us now before you die kunoichi." Itachi said sharply and Sakura took that as a sign to follow him. Sakura heard the flapping of wings from the direction that the two Akatsuki members had came.

Another Akatsuki member she recognized as Deidara came flying in with his golden blond hair billowing behind him as he soared over them on a giant clay bird.

"Kisame come, we will let Deidara handle this."

Kisame looked disappointed but came to their side. Now that he finally got a good look of Sakura, he looked her up and down.

"Will you quit staring fish-boy?" she growled, Kisame narrowed his eyes at her.

"You had better not talk to me that way kunoichi."

"Who made you in charge?" she retorted. If she was joining Akatsuki, then she was not going to be bossed around.

"Both of you stop now." Itachi started to walk towards the forest while the sound of battle went on behind him. "we must leave now I will explain the situation to the kunoichi when we re a certain distance away."

"But what about the kyuubi?" Kisame tightly bandaged sameheda in no time and stood next to Sakura.

"We do not need the kyuubi until he is needed," with his back turned, Itachi deactivated his sharingan for a second to rest his close to being blind eyes. He would have to stop using the sharingan all the time as much as possible. "and our resident bombing expert will take care of them." Itachi appeared to be impatient now.

"Bombs away yeah! Prepared to be blasted by my art!" Deidara shouted gleefully, a maniac glint going through his icy blue eyes.

Sakura watched in horror as he let loose a great handful of little clay birds on Naruto and the rest. The bombs exploded, creating a lot of smoke for a good escape. Good-bye again Naruto, she thought in sadness.

"Kunoichi, get going now!"

"I'm coming!" she fired back at Kisame, while he let out a snort of amusement at her anger. Now he thought her fury was entertaining? The nerve of him! She wanted to throw one of her punches right in his face.

She followed Itachi and Kisame through the smoke that billowed thickly in the air, making her stifle a cough. Deidara jumped off his clay bird with a smirk as he sent it on a land collision near Naruto and his group while landing beside them.

Sakura gave a final glance to Naruto who had a few injuries but nothing bad to make sure he was alright. Kakashi and Sai had some nasty burns, but luckily they were not third degree burns. Neji and Hinata barely got scathed at all because they had jumped in just the right amount of time to avoid the explosion.

They picked up more speed and ran onward.

A few miles away they stopped near a small brook and all three members of Akatsuki looked at her expectantly.

The way they stared at her made her feel like she was being judged or something which bothered her. For some reason, she wanted to prove herself to them. That she was as powerful as they were and she was not just some pushover burden like she had felt in Team Seven. Easy enough.

"Well?" she asked. "Explain."

"Don't get bossy now kunoichi" Kisame growled, taking a threatening step towards her. Sakura just gave him a mocking smirk in return. "We aren't ones to take up smart talk."

"Enough."

Itachi was in the shade of a tree calmly leaning against it, though there was something about his mere presence that radiated, no, demanded attention and respect effortlessly. Deidara was just flipping a kunai but looked at the Uchiha from the corner of his eyes with a hint of annoyance coming off him.

"Our leader has decided to extend a membership for you in the Akatsuki, in exchange for a generous amount of wealth and power."

He then waited patiently for her answer, crimson eyes staring into orbs of jade.

Before Sakura answered though, Kisame cut in.

"You left out one more little detail Itachi," Kisame grinned, showing his saw like teeth. "If you do not accept, then the only option is to kill you."

"Oh, and you'd think you'd be the one to do it, Hoshigaki?" Sakura taunted him, letting a bit of sarcasm drip in her voice. She knew it was risky to be angering someone like Kisame but she wanted to see how good he really was, and she sure as damn was not afraid to go toe t toe with him.

"I think we have time for her answer later, don't you think?" Kisame looked ready to raise chaos. He started unwrapping half of the bandages on sameheda with a gleam in his eyes. "I think I'll put her in her place."

"Kisame my man," Deidara slid his kunai back in the depths of his cloak. "we're supposed to bring her back in one piece, not a pile of shredded ribbons."

This infuriated Sakura. Did they really think so little of her? That she was just some damsel in distress? Deidara's remark put her on her predator edge. Sexists.

"Don't worry, Sakura threw her pack to the side of a fallen log with a loud _thump_. She got into battle position and cracked her knuckles. "this actually seems fun. Now you guys know whats on the menu tonight."

She stared at Kisame's fishlike features, critiquing the blue fish fins.

"Chopped human shark in a sushi roll, my specialty, with a side of wasabi."

"Or it could be your pretty ass chopped in ramen" Kisame and her started moving on the balls of their feet like two alphas about to fight for the top. "I think that would be tasty."

"Are you just going to talk the whole time and let me beat you," she provoked, Deidara said something like, girls pretty ballsy, I like it to her right. Itachi just continued leaning against the tree but appeared to show interest for the fight. "or are you going to fight?"

"I was just waiting for you to make the first move," Kisame's small beady eyes were glinting in pure bloodlust now.

"Alright then bring it on…. Fishsticks."

They came at each other in no more time. Sakura had read from Kisame's files that sameheda could suck your chakra the moment it touches you. She would have to be careful with her movements at all times. But first, time to display some strength.

When Kisame was ten feet away, she punched the ground, a move he looked like he did not expect, and it was one hard punch. Hard. It created a giant crater. Kisame nearly raised his eyebrows while Deidara gawked at the destruction that equaled the devastation of his best bomb. Kisame knew she had strength, but he honestly intercepted it to fall short just behind the Slug Queen's when he had fought her once, long ago. Sakura was just neck in neck with her mentor in the strength department. He gritted his teeth as the Godaime's former apprentice punched him in the face that sent him flying backwards into a tree that splintered into two pieces under the collision.

Kisame grunted and got up, wiping blood out of the corner of his mouth.

"Are you ready to give up now, Fish sticks?"

"You haven't tasted anything that I can do to you."

Kisame lunged forward again, going at quite some speed for a very muscled guy such as himself. Not to mention he was over seven feet.

Before she had left the village, Tsunade had taught Sakura how a secret jutsu that would enhance her speed to the extreme.

She quickly performed the hand seals and instantly felt a great tingling sensation all over. She was a flash as she closed the distance between her and Kisame, somersaulting over his head and bringing her fist down on his collarbone to knock him out.

"Release," she muttered ending the jutsu and the sensation went with it. She did not want to use to much chakra.

Deidara looked dumbstruck at the site before him, and Itachi's eyes flickered with surprise for a moment before becoming blank.

Itachi was rarely surprised, and he knew that Pein had said that she was powerful, but he had expected less. That strength, that speed she suddenly had from that jutsu that rivaled his…. Was something he had not seem coming. Quite impressive was that she had beaten his partner, and which he had never seen done.

But she would have to go a longer way to gain his respect. Now, she would have to make her choice. Either she must join or die. But there was something about her that made him not want to kill her. He would not deny that she was beautiful, even though women were of no concern to him. There was something pure, also innocent as well like an untainted white flame of pure light.

He took himself out of his thoughts. He was the Itachi Uchiha, murderer of the Uchiha clan and one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. He had no time to think about such things. Not when he had plans for the distant future.

"She must make her choice," he thought solemnly, "or I will kill her."

Sakura let a triumphant smile as she stared down at Kisame, wishing that Tsunade would have been here to see this.

"So kunoichi," Itachi said boredly and Sakura's attention went back to him. "what isyour decision?"

Sakura took a deep breath. Here it goes.

"I will accept when I hear the terms from your leader."

Itachi nodded, not surprised at all. Most Akatsuki members wanted to hear out the leader before signing a small amount of freedom to Pein. But he still was betting she would accept it. Kisame stirred sitting up and dusting off his sleeves. He glared daggers at Sakura before giving her a feral grin.

"Not bad kunoichi, not bad at all, but I'm still going to get back at you for this." Kisame got up and walked to where sameheda had fallen from his grip and picked it up.

"You're not so bad yourself Kisame."

"Even though she demolished you." Deidara smirked, while letting out a yawn.

"As if you could have done any better!:" Kisame shouted, waving sameheda at Deidara furiously. Sakura chuckled, which she had not done in the past few months.

"We leave now, time had already been lost we must make haste to the Rain village as soon as possible." Itachi came out from the shadow of his tree.

"Is that where the leader is?" Sakura asked, starting to follow behind his tall form.

It was Deidara that answered instead. "Main headquarters of Akatsuki, yeah. Leader-sama's the leader of the Rain village."

"He is?" She never thought the Akatsuki leader would be the leader of a small nation.

"Surprised, yeah?"

As they jumped from tree to tree in quick speed, Sakura looked back in the direction to the Leaf village, where the sun was setting. She turned away, trying to push her emotions aside. Now that she was going to meet the leader of Akatsuki, she would be taking the biggest risk of her life. She needed to be strong, and have no fear.

She will.


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome to the Akatsuki

Chapter 6: Welcome to the Akatsuki

Rain village

In half a days time in the middle of the night, they stood at the beginning of a long, long bridge that led to what looked like the Rain village. Sakura had never seen the Hidden Rain village before, the entire industrial city was large with tall steel skyscrapers that speared the sky and Sakura was just used to the medium sized buildings of the Leaf village. The entire sky was cloudy everywhere, and a nonstop storm of rain pelted her face.

She squinted a bit, and saw the seven towers of the Rain village. The seven towers were famous and were one of the wonders of the world.

She realized that Deidara was staring at her weirdly.

"Oh god!" she reminded herself, "I probably look like a freak with my jaw hanging like that!" Her cheeks flushed red at being caught by the blond artist.

"Something interesting, hmmmm?" Deidara grinned, giving the Rain village a glance. He had to admit, he was a bit awed by the skyscrapers when he saw them his first time as well. Though he thought they would look like a real piece of art if the steel was more bright and he could bomb it later.

"I've never seen such tall buildings like that out of Konoha." She admitted, wiping a bunch of fresh water of her face even though she knew there was no point in it.

"Yep, that's Rain for 'ya, literally." Deidara looked at the gray sky semi protectively. "Leader-sama never stops the rain here which I don't get, it makes this place dull."

"Your leader can control the rain?" Sakura said, hiding the surprise in. How on Earth could someone control the weather?

"He controls it with his chakra, yeah" He replied while squeezing some water out of his now wet, clingy, blond hair. He knew he should have grabbed his kasa on the way out. "and so he can sense intruders."

Sakura gulped, not knowing this.

"So," she said casually, falling into step beside him with a small smile. It was still hard to believe that this was the man that captured Gaara, the way he just…. acted was unexpected. Then again, he did not see her as the enemy really. For now. "where's the headquarters?"

"The highest tower in Rain towards the Northeast," came a silky velvet voice and Sakura knew that it was not Deidara's voice at all.

She looked on her right and saw it was Itachi walking beside her, so she was sandwiched between the bombing expert and the raven. She gave him a nod, and he politely nodded back.

The crackle and boom of lightning and thunder started, breaking the peaceful tempo of the rain.

Deidara let out a groan, muttering something about leader-sama needing anger management classes as well as a therapist. Itachi said nothing and Kisame rolled his eyes.

"Best not keep leader-sama waiting much longer now, would we?"

They ran the rest of the way, jumping over the rooftops of buildings as people pointed and talked about them as they flew right by.

Sakura decided to take a look at the village as she went jumped. She looked below, sort of expecting this village would be awful under the Akatsuki leader's rule. She was wrong.

It was quite nice. No sign of mercenaries or rogue ninja. Minus them. There were tons of venders selling unique trinkets with beads or the occasional shine of diamonds and the smell of delicious food came from the venders too. Children ran around, splashing each other while others jumped in the puddles only to get scolded by parents. It looked just about as welcoming as Konoha did.

This lightened her heart as they jumped over a nearby restaurant and the smell of food was caught by her nose as her stomach growled. She had not eaten breakfast or lunch because of her long chase and she was starving for dinner. What she would give for so me shrimp tempura right now.

Itachi was leading the entire way and as the tower loomed closer, Sakura felt no fear. The worst after all, was that she might die. Eventually Itachi slowed to a walk as did the rest of them as they came close to a pair of double doors. They walked through a short hall and turned to climb up a long staircase of marble.

This is the seventh tower, the rosette looked up. Definitely. These stairs are going to be the longest she will ever go up. Looks like her soon to be leader would have to wait a few minutes.

A few minutes later….

They came to the top of the stairs after long winding circles that made Sakura a little dizzy. Whew.

Her heart started flip flopping as they neared a giant pair of mahogany doors. Itachi opened it and walked in with them following.

Sakura immediately took in site of the room. It was a much more grand office then Tsunade's, almost fit for a king. The floors were solid white marble, there was a dark bookcase made of pinewood that was filled with books stacked solidly together in an organized fashion. An expensive thick rug that must have taken days to weave laid flat on the floor with two comfy leather sofas on both sides of the room. In the back was a large desk made of mahogany gilded in gold with a small door that had a lock was behind it. A huge window with long red drapes showed of a long view of the Rain village. To top it off, there was a black and red Akatsuki banner hanging from the ceiling above the desk.

These items only held her attention for a second but it was really the man and woman sitting behind the desk that held it. Demanded it, more like.

The man had flaming orange hair with a traditional forehead protector that had a slashed line through it. He had multiple piercings in strange places over his body, and an Akatsuki cloak rested on his form. But it was his eyes that were the enigma. They were purple and were ringed, was it some sort of kekkei genkai or something? He had a solemn look on his face, though she knew he was the leader, he had this godly demeanor to him.

Standing at his side was a serious looking woman. She had short purple hair that was cut bluntly at her chin, a paper flower was tucked in her hair. She too wore a Akatsuki over her slender form and carried a authoritive demeanor.

Their gazes never left hers as they studied her. Deidara plopped down on a couch to the right side of the room, not even bothering to give much acknowledgment to the orientation. All the members had been through this anyway. Kisame took off sameheda from the strap on his back and leaned it against the wall then just sat on the other sofa to the left side stretching his arms as Itachi took a seat next to him.

The purple haired woman looked at them with a hint of annoyance. " Nice of you to make yourselves at home." Apparently this happened a lot.

Now Sakura stood in the center of the room under the scrutinizing gaze of the Akatsuki leader. After a minute, he spoke.

"Greetings, Sakura Haruno."

"Greetings, er-" she broke off, she didn't know his name, and she could have sworn she saw Deidara and Kisame share amused smirks. Well this was a nice first impression.

"My name is Pein," he rested his chin on his knuckle, still giving her a complete stare down. "But you will address me as Leader-sama when you officially join the Akatsuki."

"I have not accepted yet, I wanted to hear your terms for myself before I make my decision."

"A wise choice."

The purple haired woman stepped forward.

"I am Konan." She offered her hand to Sakura who in turn shook it. She never knew the Akatsuki had another female member. Konan must be powerful if she was Pein's partner.

"Pleased to meet you Konan-san." Sakura replied formerly.

"Sakura," Pein sat down behind his desk and Konan followed his example, sitting in a small chair next to him. "will you please be seated?"

Sakura sat herself next to Deidara and for a leather couch it was pretty firm.

"I thank you for coming to me under your free will, rather then my comrades kill you."

Sakura tilted her head to the side as if to say, _fishy and blondie wouldn't stand a chance_. Pein almost smiled at this, the Godaime's apprentice was a stubborn one with a competitive streak and would hopefully gain some control over Deidara's wild ways. The bombing blond tended to act to reckless sometimes for his taste when he lost his temper. But he already knew where he would choose as Sakura's partners.

"As Itachi has told you, I am offering a membership of servitude to the Akatsuki to you."

"What do I benefit from it? Why should I join since I left my village in the first place?" Sakura crossed her arms and leaned into the couch. She couldn't accept right away or else she'd look suspicious.

"When we have collected all the bijuu and are at full power we will create world peace under our reign." Sakura kept herself from leaning forward in interest while Pein explained the Akatsuki's plans. Jackpot. " Each member will have their own territory to rule and will answer to no one but me. You will also be paid very large amounts of money as well."

"It is very generous." Sakura pretended to contemplate it a little longer, drumbing her fingernails on the armrest. "I accept."

"Excellent." Pein and Konan shared a look as he continued. "Npw that you are joining, there are some rules in the Akatsuki you must follow."

"Your Akatsuki cloak must be worn at all times during traveling and missions so that nobody will mistake us for some other organization. You will be assigned to capture at least two tailed beasts for we are low on members after the deaths of Hidan and Kakuzu." There was some muttering from Kisame and Deidara that was _thankfully Stitches and the jashinist are gone._ But stopped their muttering when Pein shot them a glare. "I will decide who will be your partners and you must swear total loyalty to the Akatsuki."

"Alright." These rules were easy to follow.

"But if you betray the Akatsuki you die." Pein paused as Sakura nodded silently. Kisame appeared bored, eyes almost closing the whole way. Itachi just sat there watching the conversation but his emotions betrayed nothing with a mutual expression on his face. Deidara was running the edge of a kunai against his fingernails not paying attention at all.

Sakura looked at Itachi a bit more longer then she should have but thank kami that he was not looking back. He had long coal black eyelashes that hooded his eyes in a sexy way. His hair was as dark as a raven's black color and was straight and silky. He definitely been blessed with the nice Uchiha genes. She blinked, she couldn't be thinking about these things! Stop looking at him she told herself, you cannot think about this stuff at a time like this!

Pein finished his small conversation with Konan he just started. "Very well then." Pein stood, as did the other Akatsuki members. "Leave us."

Kisame opened his small eyes with a grunt as he got up, grabbing sameheda on the way out behind Itachi. Deidara filed after them out the double door.

Pein walked towards Sakura with something in his hand.

Suddenly, his hand lashed out, snatching her wrist. The pinkette stiffened, just as she felt something small and hard slide on her pointer finger. He let go so she could look.

It was an Akatsuki ring, Kakuzu's if she was not mistaken. She had seen it on him before Naruto killed him.

"Your room is located in the hall to the left," Konan informed, locking the drawer the ring had come from. "the fourth door to the left."

Sakura nodded then left the office, thumb circling her new ring.

She walked down the hall looking out windows she passed by. It offered a beautiful view of the Rain village.

She located her room and went in. It was simple, but comfy. The room consisted of a big futon in the center of the room with a plush white rug underneath it. To the side was a dresser made out of cherry wood to store her things. On the other side of the room was a desk with a cushioned chair. In the back of the room with black silk curtains was a giant window that showed the outdoor activities of the Rain village.

Pulling back the curtains for privacy, she set her bag down next to the futon and laid down on it, watching the ceiling. She got up and wrote a letter to Tsunade on her status. She would have to send this to her when she leaves for her first mission for Akatsuki which she hoped was shortly. By the time she was halfway through her letter a quick _knock, knock, knock_! Came from her door.

She took a breath before opening the door and was surprised to see Deidara.

"Hey kunoichi, dinner is going to be in five minutes." He glanced around her room. "The dining room is down the hall, yeah."

"Thanks Deidara," she felt a bit…. weird? But heartened at his kindness. But then crushed the feeling. She was plotting there downfall, not being the best of friends or anything. Kami, this is going to be a long two and a half years. But that didn't mean she could show some kindness in return. As far as she could tell, Deidara was not faking this with any malicious intent or agenda behind it. He even looked close to her age like Itachi did too. "and call me Sakura."

"Why not Blossom?" She saw Deidara taking a look at her hair.

"To original and annoying."Which was true, she had been called that countless times back in Konoha.

"I'll remember that, yeah." He huffed then handed her something that was made of soft fabric.

Sakura took hold and held it up.

It was an Akatsuki robe, perfectly made for her own size. It was made of some expensive material, the type that can expand to the weather and was an easy slip on. It was of course, black, with blaring red clouds. "Thanks."

"Leader-sama wanted me to give this to you, and if you ever tear it or if it gets ruined in then just ask him for another one." Deidara went down the hall towards the dining room for dinner. As Sakura was closing the door, she saw him open the door to his own room and toss his Akatsuki robe in.

Sakura smirked, thinking of Kisame wearing a frilly pink apron while cooking. She started to giggle as she threw her new robe on the futon.

She decided to unpack first before heading down. The dresser would be nice to put her spare clothes in. Though when she slid it open, it was full. Inside the drawer was some clothes that matched her exact size, so they had known she would be staying in here. The clothes were blue pants that were intentionally low on the waist and would go down to her ankles. A fishnet shirt, that went with a tight blue shirt that matched the pants would be tight on her chest and would go down to the middle of her stomach. Black sandals topped off the Akatsuki ensemble.

She would wear it some other time. Sliding open the second top drawer, she wished it was empty. But no. There were some spare kunai and some clove oil to clean the blood off of the kunai when the need came so it had a small spare cloth. She sighed and opened the third drawer. This has to be vacated, what else was going to be in there? Spare toilet paper or toothpaste? It didn't have anything inside it. Good.

She neatly folded her spare clothes and dropped them in.

Her stomach gave a growl, telling her it was dinner time. She brushed the clumps of snarls out of her hair since her hair had dried off and the rain had made it tangled.

Then for safety, she tucked the unfinished letter away and walked into the hallway.

Walking down she saw all the closed doors and from the sounds coming from the end of the hallway everyone was eating dinner. She paused when she got to the door.

She heard Kisame's booming laughter of amusement at Deidara, who appeared to be yelling at someone she didn't recognize. She strode on in.

It was a huge room that was connected to a kitchen of the finest art for cooking even though none of them probably used it anyways. There was a giant table with big silver platters of food in the middle and sitting around it in wooden armchairs were her fellow Akatsuki members.

Itachi sat at the head of the table Deidara and some other guy she hadn't met yet with a orange mask sat opposite to Kisame who was wolfing down sushi and spring rolls on itachi's right side.

Guess she was sitting with the big blue shark pig whom appeared to not care that he had rice stuck to his cheeks and his cheeks were so full of food he looked like a chipmunk. She had to bit her cheek to keep from laughing.

"Hey who's this?" the orange masked person next to Deidara said excitedly.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," she greeted, taking a seat next to Kisame while he finally had the decency to pick up a napkin and wipe the food of his face. She decided over food while at it. "and I'm the Akatsuki's new member and its nice to meet you."

"So she's the pretty girl who kicked Kisame's butt just like you told me, Deidara-senpai?!" the orange masked man said rather to loudly. Kisame's growled as he replayed the image of her sending him flying into a tree. "Gosh you are right, Deidara-senpai she is pretty!"

Sakura could not keep back a blush as Deidara choked on his water while hacking.

"Tobi!" Deidara's teeth gnashed together angrily. He had put up with this incapable clown long enough. His hand was already chewing on the clay in his pouch ready to make a boom.

"Ahhhh! Deidara-senpai don't bomb me!" The Tobi person ran out the door with Deidara right on his tail.

Silence reigned for a moment before Kisame snorted and went back to eating.

Itachi looked a bit amused as he went back to reading a book he had in his hand while skillfully using his other hand to use the chopsticks to pick up some sushi.

Sakura settled for some pork and rice as there was no shrimp tempura much to her disappointment. When she finished, she just dumped her plate in the sink and tossed the chopsticks in a plastic trash bin.

Seeing as there was nothing to do, she was leaving to go back to her room for some much needed sleep. As she was skirting the edge of the table, Deidara marched back in with a triumphant smile on his face. Tobi limped in, burns from Deidara's explosive's made holes in his cloak.

Sakura's medical instinct kicked in and she wanted to heal Tobi's burns. It wouldn't hurt after all, would it? He seemed as harmless as a fly.

Kisame figured out what she was going to do. As she was making her way to Tobi, he stepped in front of her, blocking the way.

"What do you think you're doing?" Here, she had thought she had put him in line, it looks like it would take more to keep him off her back. "Tobi is clearly hurt, he needs medical attention."

"As far as I'm concerned, you're not wasting any of your chakra because I haven't got my rematch against you for what you did to me earlier."

"So you want to get your scaly ass kicked again?" Sakura scoffed, honestly the actual time she had tried to help one of them. But she would get to defeat Kisame again.

"I only got taken by surprise." Sakura let out a small chuckle as Itachi and Deidara curiously watched them.

"How about this," she mused thoughtfully, "this fight will only be in taijutsu."

"That is," she leaned into Kisame's face with a smirk. "if you are nothing without your sword."

"That would be rather entertaining." Itachi stood from his chair and walked with fluid grace to a door by the entrance to some other room.

"Good."

Sakura and Kisame were led by Itachi into what she assumed was the training ground. It was the size of a stadium that could hold a whole chuunin exams inside. The Akatsuki really have the luxurious life for rogue ninja's of an infamous organization that was hunted down by all five great nations. They even lived just as nicely as a hokage or a rich noble of some sort.

Deidara and Tobi came along too and were eager to watch the fight.

Kisame set sameheda on the dirt floor and Sakura got ready.

They squared off before charging each other with a renewed ferocity from their earlier exchange.

Fifteen minutes later, they were still in a flurry of kicking, punching jumping, and plenty of blocking.

Sakura was starting to tire as she kicked Kisame in the face, drawing some blood from his nose. But he was resilient and rammed a well-aimed punch to her stomach. By this time, they had memorized each others moves and were switching up their strategies.

Kisame jumped back as Sakura flew at right at him, a bomb exploded in front of her. This barely gave her enough time to stop and fall straight on her back to avoid the blast.

"Deidara!" she howled in anger searching for him, Kisame could wait she had a deal to settle with the long haired blond. "What was that for? Incase you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of fighting!"

"Watching you and sharkman beating away at one another mad it so tempting to jump in."

She whirled around hearing him behind her back. Raising her fist, she decked him across the face and her fist went right through him. She was shocked until realizing what a silly move that was. It was a clay clone of Deidara and her entire hand to her wrist was stuck in it.

She looked across the training ground to see Deidara grinning mischievously beside Kisame, who had gotten up and looked ready to rampage.

"Now that its two on one, we can have some more fun." Kisame grinned at her while flexing his fingers then cracking his knuckles.

"By the way, don't even try to get yourself out of the clay clone," Deidara fed his mouths on his palms more clay while they chomped loudly. This was going to be even more fun now that he jumped in. "but nonetheless, I want to see your chakra enhanced strength against us, yeah."

The pink haired girl knew she was screwed, after all, besides the fact of her fist being in a clay clone, she couldn't beat two members of the Akatsuki.

So she decided to do some stalling while working out a plant get her out of this sticky clay. The only thing she could think of was lightning chakra, which she didn't know how to do since lightning beats earth.

"Aw come on," she deliberately made it look like she was complaining, something she'd never do. But this would give her time to stop them from pummeling her. "can't you respect a one on one match Deidara?"

"Hmmmm…. yeah." Deidara murmured before looking back at her with a devilish grin. "But I want a chance to see how tough you are."

"Enough talk." Kisame cut in. "Payback time."

Sakura tried yanking her hand out of the clay clone that was trapping her, though it wouldn't work. She was not going to accept this. She was a kunoichi from the Fire country and apprentice to her beloved Tsunade for Kami's sake! She would never give up.

Just as she was about to say some snappy comeback to them, a crackling noise whizzed right by her. Electrocuting the clay and freeing her hand.

She raised her head to the eyes of the sharingan. What? Itachi had seriously just helped her?

Itachi gave a small almost arrogant smirk as he faced Kisame and Deidara.

"Are you not going to fight for justice, kunoichi?"

"I don't do revenge, but yes, I am going to kick their faces in." Sakura was in disbelief.

"There is a difference between revenge and justice. Revenge is for personal selfish desires that solve nothing. Justice is the upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor." Wow. She never thought Itachi was so…. deep. Despite hostility for being a clan murderer, she liked it.

"Sounds great, tag team?" Sakura cracked her neck and smirked. Now it was her playtime. Alright. She stopped for a second. "Why are you helping me?"

"I got tired of watching, and decided to join the battlefield."

"I hope you don't mind if I take on Deidara, seeing as he was the one who got me in this." She said crisply.

"I have beaten Deidara before," Itachi started moving towards Kisame in a predator like way. Kisame looked ready to wet his pants. Deidara sent an outraged look Itachi's way though the stoic Uchiha did not heed it. "I have never gone against Kisame, so he is all yours to fight."

"Perfectly fine with me." Sakura was now ready to kick Deidara's butt, as her Inner started shouting for a good butt-kicking session.

She knew Deidara was a far distance fighter, and she would have to be careful dodging the bombs to defeat him.

Hokage Tower, Fire Country

Tsunade sat behind her desk, doing paperwork as usual. She was a bit nervous too. What if they had captured Sakura? Then the plan would be ruined! A long list of possibilities went through her head.

She sat back, thinking about Dan and Nawaki now that she was a bit buzzed on sake. Her chest tightened at the mere thought.

She'd never forget the day she had left her beloved village whenthe grief became to strong to deal with. She had been the first to leave out of the sannin, shortly after Orochimaru left to study forbidden jutsu's and Jiraiya went soon after to explore the world. The three sannin were doomed from the start.

She closed her eyes, letting the memory of that day wash over her like a tidal wave.

(Flashback)

The Leaf village was in harmony with peace after winning the great ninja war. The Third hokage had announced his retirement and that the Yellow Flash of Konoha, Minato Namikaze would be taking over as the Fourth hokage. The celebratory streamers and lanterns light up Konoha as they held a celebration for the end of the war.

Tsunade had not wanted to attend the celebratory festival, though as a sannin and hero of the war her presence was mandatory and required. She had sat at her sensei side on the right, and sitting on the left was Jiraiya and Orochimaru. Seated on her right, was Minato Namikaze.

She had talked to him for a long time and decided that he would make a great hokage. She smiled, thinking the village would be under strong leadership when she was gone.

She sucked in a sharp breath as she he continued talking. Where had that thought of leaving come from? What was she thinking? She couldn't possibly leave the village, this was part of her grandfather's as well as her grand uncle's legacy! But, she thought with a sinking feeling, Dan and Nawaki should be here, having fun and being happy. Suddenly, the pain was to much to bear. The memories were to painful. Tears had threatened to come out and she blinked them away.

"Tsunade, is everything alright?" Minato asked, concern on his face.

Tsunade snapped back to attention.

"Yes, I'm fine." It was a lie.

Tsunade went back to her house after that, grabbing a big bottle of sake from a bar as she left. When she got home, she downed the sake quickly. That was when her drinking habit triggered. She became light headed and threw up.

She drank some water, getting the taste of bile out of her mouth.

Then she drank another bottle, set it on her bedside table. Not even bothering to take of her clothes, she fell on the bed and fell asleep.

In the morning, she groggily opened her eyes.

Her head hurt a lot, and it was probably 9 a.m. So she was running late. She did not care, she just laid flat on her back staring at the ceiling.

So what if she was running late? The Leaf village would have never have won the war without her, everybody said so. She'd laid everything on the line for them, she had lost two people she had loved most in this world, and she had killed countless shinobi in the process. How many battles had she been in? She had lost track a long time ago. When was the last time someone had beaten her? Years perhaps? After all she had done, she deserved a break. A really, really long break. Far away from here most preferably.

_Knock, knock_! Tsunade did not want to be disturbed.

"Go away!" she slurred, though definitely not loud enough for the person to hear.

The front door opened, and she knew instantly it was Jiraiya. He was the only one she knew who opened the door and barged in anyways. The sannin sighed, knowing he would not go away.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya greeted cheerfully, opening her bedroom door. He stopped as he saw the bottle of sake on her nightstand, and looked at her blank, almost annoyed face and red eyes.

"What do you want Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya raised an brow, then wordlessly dragged a seat from the corner of her room next to her bed and sat down.

"Tsunade, you are an hour late for an important meeting on Minato's inauguration plans to become hokage the council Elders are furious." He expected her to widen her eyes in shock at being late and go with him immediately. Though she just laid there.

"I don't care, tell them to continue without me." She just couldn't do any of this ninja stuff right now. She looked at Jiraiya and expected him to leave her in peace, but he still sat there with his arms crossed.

"Tsunade what's going on?" Jiraiya was getting annoyed now. He knew something was up, Tsunade never acted like this. Or get drunk like that. "Whatever it is tell me now or I'm just going to carry you all the way there."

"The war's over isn't it?" she whispered. "Does it honestly matter anymore?"

"Tsunade tell me now."

"Or you'll do what?" she challenged propping herself up on her elbows. She got up and strode out of the room. "Will you summon Gamabunta and have me wrapped in his saliva or something? Do you seriously think I care anymore Jiraiya?"

"It's your village Tsunade," Jiraiya replied. "of course you care."

She snapped her head up. "Get out. I'm sorry, but I would like to be alone right now."

He finally left, knowing that her reasoning was still the fact she was crushed by the loss of Dan and Nawaki.

Nobody would understand what she was feeling right now. The affects of the alcohol wore off and Tsunade nearly sobbed now that she had nothing to numb the pain. This place…. to much pain. Her mind boggled and she needed to get out of here now. Never come back.

She had talked with Dan's niece Shizune earlier and agreed with the girl to train her if she went with her over a long journey. They would meet in an hour at the gates silently to draw no attention.

Tsunade took a small back filled with the things she wanted to take. She felt her grandfather's crystal necklace against her chest, remembering the day he ahd given it to her.

Tsunade made sure to visit Dan and Nawaki's graves one last time and put bouquets of flowers on both graves.

Then she went straight to the Sandaime.

He had a look of sadness as she asked for permission to leave the Leaf village. He granted it. He would truly miss her, she was his favorite student.

"Good-bye, Sarutobi sensei."

"Good-bye Tsunade."

She left sneakily then, not wanting to attract much attention especially Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

As she was walking, she looked at the hokage monument. She silently said good-bye to her grandfather Hashirama and her grand uncle Tobirama who's faces were carved in a giant cliff. I'll miss you. As well as this village.

She was near the gates now. Tsunade saw the faint outline of Shizune standing near the gates to await her arrival. She strode forward.

"Tsunade!"

She stopped midstep, frozen.

Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and the council Elders came making a straight beeline for her.

"What is it?" she sighed, wondering what they were up to.

They stopped before her.

"Tsunade, is it true you're leaving us?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes I'm leaving," she said firmly," and I'm leave with no regrets."

The Elders had seemed to have enough.

"You impudent child!" Koharu screeched, "how can you be so selfish? You are one of the best ninja we have, and you are a sannin!"

Tsunade restrained herself from going wild on Koharu, and yet another reason why she wanted to leave, the Elders saw her as nothing other then a tool to be used for their demise. But no, she would not end this last time in the Leaf village on a bad note.

"Tsunade, forget this foolishness if you leave like this, you will become a missing-nin." Orochimaru said simply, running his tongue on his teeth creepily. "you have your duty to your village."

Tsunade stared at them, then muttered as she turned to walk away. " I wish you the best of luck in your futures."

A kunai whizzed right by her head, embedding itself in the ground.

She turned around, feeling angry at Jiraiya and Orochimaru, after all they had been through, they couldn't let her go?

But it was neither said Sannin that did it.

She saw at least a dozen anbu members on rooftops in fighting stances directed at her.

"So, you will go this far to see that I don't leave?"

"No,' Jiraiya answered with a quick glint of confusion. "we did not have anthing to do with this Tsunade, I swear."

"We did." The male Elder stepped back. "now do not make us stop you by force."

By that time, her temper broke.

"Haven't I done enough for this village?" she roared, her anger pulsing in her every fiber. "My family, and Dan are dead!"

She was nowhere near done.

"I put everything on the line! Haven't I done slaughtered enough shinobi? Has everything I have for this village not enough?"

"Tsunade, have you lost-"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" her voice rose higher and she was till not done yet. " You have no idea what pain, the damn awful pain I've gone through and am still going through in the name of this village!"

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were surprised, they'd seen Tsunade in fury, but not this furious.

Tsunade took a deep breath.

"You can try to stop me," she announced to no one in particular. " but then your attempt will be in vain."

"You-" before Koharu could continue, a sharp voice intervened.

"Let her go." Everybody turned as the Third hokage made his appearance and he gestured to the anbus. "stand down."

"Hiruzen, we have tried to talk sense into her but-"

"Silence." Hiruzen Sarutobi lokked at the council Elders sternly. "I granted her permission to leave the village this morning."

"What?" Jiraiya yelped. "You're letting her go?"

"Yes, Tsunad eneeds to cope with her pain, and she has sacrificed and done enough for this village and it would be a sin if the last descendent of the legendary Senju clan were to die today."

Tsunade walked up to Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

"I guess this is good-bye then." She would never forget their times together. It looks like they were doomed from the start after all like that oracle they had once met on a mission together had told them. How right the oracle was. They had not believed it at first, for what can you do?

Jiraiya smiled and gave her a big bear hug and took one last long look at her boobs before she swatted him. Though not to hard this time. Orochimaru and her shook hands as he nodded.

"Farewell." She whispered. She walked to the front gates.

As she and Shizune were walking towards the forest, she looked over her shoulder once more.

"Good-bye, Konoha."

With that, she and Shizune ran into the forest, and this time she did not look back.

(End flashback)

She opened her eyes.

How wrong she had been, thinking she was the last Senju. There was till one more left, but she wasn't ready to tell yet.

The door burst open and she hid her cup of sake under her desk. Naruto came in, Kakashi, Sai, Naruto, Hinata and Neji right behind him.

"Report." Tsunade said.

"W-we think Sakura has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki."

This could mean one thing, Sakura had gotten in! Excellent

"We found the target," Kakashi reported with a hard edge in his voice. "we fought the Akatsuki members Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Deidara while trying to retrieve Sakura."

"You did your best, you may leave." She pointed to the door and theywalked put as she got back to her paperwork. Then she realized Kakashi was till in the office.

She rolled her eyes. "What is it Kakashi?"

Kakashi walked forward, stopping a foot from her. Tsunade narrowed her eyes at the space intrusion, not liking this.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi was looking straight into her eyes, seeming to put holes through them.

"You better have a good excuse as to why you are invading my personal space." She growled, considering punching him out the door.

He stepped back, turning towards the door. "My apologies, hokage-sama it was nothing."

Tsunade watched as he left before letting out a snarl. Damn, he knew something was up, she could tell! She would have to be extra careful about her drinking habit, it was starting to slip her up.

She would have to, for her apprentice.

Rain village, Akatsuki base

Itachi defeated Kisame in a few minutes after kicking sameheda to the side without getting his chakra depleted into a kunai post. Then he kicked Kisame to end it. Sakura was managed to slip through Deidara's defense with a substitution and knocked him of his clay bird, forcing him to the ground. Before he could whip out yet another bomb she had gotten him with a kunai at the throat.

Sakura felt as triumphant as ever. She had not only beaten Kisame, but now Deidara.

Deidara grunted and got up. She was good after all. He'd have to change his strategy up when he gets a rematch out of her. It was one thing he picked up on Sakura is that her pride would never let her back down from any fight.

Sakura gave Itachi a small smile, showing her thanks to him.

He nodded his head in acknowledgement in return. She was an incredible partner in battle for sure. Almost to loyal.

Then she let the smile drop. Why did she smile at him? True, he was ten times better looking then Sasuke but-

What was she truly thinking of now? Comparing Sasuke to Itachi? Damn Uchihas, one way or another, they always managed to get in your head.

"Nice job." She turned around to Deidara walking towards her, holding a hand to his ribs where she had kicked him earlier.

"Thanks." Sakura said for the second time that evening. He must be in pain from the way he was grimacing and she felt a soft spot for him. "Here, let me heal that."

"No its fine, yeah."

She arched her eyebrows and let out a overdramatic sigh."That's what they all say."

With that, she and Deidara followed everyone's retreating forms.


	7. Chapter 7: New partners in crime

Chapter 7: New partners in crime

Sakura's hair fell across her face as she shifted on her futon, sheets making a noise as they slid against her body. She fluffed her white pillow to make it softer and a few feathers fell out then she buried her face in the pillow.

She could not sleep. It had been four hours since everyone had gone to bed since they had stayed up so late. After healing Deidara they had all played poker in the dining room, testing each other's different deceptive strategies in the card game. She had done well at the game coming in second place to Itachi, who had gotten a full royal flush.

After the game, she'd left the room to go to bed.

She did not have actual pajamas to sleep in so she just slipped into the soft, silky black pants of her fake Root uniform. She still kept it, but she'd gotten rid of the chest plate by dumping it into a local dumpster in one of the towns she visited before joining the Akatsuki. She only kept the pants and shirt mainly because they were comfortable and she never carried a full wardrobe in her necessities pack. A white shirt topped of the sleeping wear.

The petal haired woman sat up with a sigh, jade eyes half hooded with sleep but she felt awake. She would need a walk or something she thought, pulling the blankets and sheets off.

She went barefoot, seeing as there was no need. Opening the door she walked out of her dark room treading softly through the dimly lit hall. There was a light coming from the dining room.

Hhmmmm who could be up this late? Curiosity got the better of her and sped to the source of the light. As she was going down, Kisame's loud snores could be heard from a room next to Deidara's. Arriving at the dining room that had been filled with people only hours before she squinted and saw nobody. Hearing a crackling noise from the left, she went to see what it was smelling a faint scent of smoke on the way.

Realizing there was a small hall connected to the room she walked into what seemed to be a sort of lounge. Almost.

At the end of the room was a massive fireplace that had a roaring fire inside. So that was the light source. Close by the fire neatly lined on either side were two giant black couches with plush cushions nestled in there depths. To the corner of the room was a low table with pillows for you to sit on were surrounding it. All in all, it was a nice place to relax.

Her heart stopped as she recognized whom it was sitting by the fire basking in its warmth and lighting his face faintly. He had his cloak discarded on the floor behind him and watched the spirals of flames intently. Itachi.

Obviously he had sensed her the moment she left her bed because he always had his sharingan on at most times. Once back in Konoha she was looking through classified information in Itachi's profile, not that anyone stopped her from reading it being Tsunade's apprentice gave her some extra privileges. As she was reading, a photo slipped out of the files on accident. Picking it up she'd gasped when she saw a thirteen-year-old Itachi looking at her from the picture. He looked at ease but serious, his bangs that framed his face were shorter and he had a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. He looked handsome as he did now, and he had the most beautiful pair of onyx eyes she had ever seen, and he didn't even look thirteen at all like he had the maturity of an adult. The picture must have been taken shortly before the massacre and becoming a missing nin.

Instead of turning around and going abruptly to her room she sat next to him. But not to close.

He just kept staring into the fire, reflecting in his crimson eyes.

"Can't sleep?" she asked innocently wondering what he was thinking behind those cool, calm features.

"Hn." Itachi replied adjusting his weight where he sat. He never slept, not that he could anyway from that night long ago. The last time he had slept peacefully had resulted in a constant string of night mares from the Uchiha massacre.

"Do you do this every night?" Sakura hoped to at least get a real answer from him, slightly disappointed that he only gave her a small reply.

"Mostly." Itachi answered, faintly thinking why she was up so late. None of the other members did this and were sound asleep until morning. "And you?"

"I never do this," she admitted, letting her arms slide backwards, the white sleeves of her shirt sliding up her arms. "I just came here because I needed to do something other then tossing and turning."

Suddenly, she felt two fingers softly caress her arm lightly dancing across the surface of her skin. Eyes widened, she turned to Itachi as he stroked her arm.

But he was not looking at her, but her arm. Horror dawned on her. He was stroking her anbu tattoo, eyes refusing to leave it as he touched the black ink inscribed on her skin.

On impulse she sat up straight and pulled her arm back, only to have his other hand grab her by the elbow. He continued the movement on her tattoo, though in a dangerous, predatorily way.

Oh shit. She should have covered it!

"So," Itachi this time stared in her eyes, sharingan entrancing her. "you were a member of Root, were you not?"

Sakura was so freaked out, so she kept her mouth shut. She wasn't going to tell him anything.

Big mistake there.

In a flash his body pinned her down to the floor, the floor feeling cold against Sakura's skin. She was just about to kick his balls up his throat but before she could even move a muscle he was straddling her hips to hold her legs down as she tried to thrash her way out. Then he grabbed both of her wrists and put them over her head. It was then Inner Sakura came in.

"Oooo," Inner Sakura purred, seeming to like this a lot. "now I could get used to this."

"Inner!" Sakura yelled, mortified. "How many times have I told you to not come in at times like this?"

"Fine." Her Inner tramped away sulking.

Her attention turned back to the situation back to Itachi, who still had her whole body pinned to the floor by him. She could feel his cool breath in her ear, sending shivers down her spine and up to her neck.

"I would answer if I were you." The eldest Uchiha's breath tickled her cheek,

Now that just got her pissed off. Mad, more like it. "If I were you?" she thought angrily repeating it in her head, "the arrogant bastard!"

He may be a prodigy that was nothing short of a legend since he was born, a murderer that took on the whole Uchiha clan by himself, and the most gorgeous man she had laid eyes on, she was not going to submit to him.

"Oh really?" she said, letting her temper get the ruling spot and she wanted to get him mad. So she egged him on. "Do your worst Uchiha."

Suddenly his lips were only a few inches from her lips.

"Very well then." Itachi let go of one of her wrists, using the other hand to hold both of her wrists. He used his free hand to grab her by the chin and force her to look into his eyes. "You leave me no choice."

His eyes bled red with the sharingan, then it started spinning into the mangekyou sharingan.

Uh-o. Tysukinomi, she thought dreadfully, she'd forgotten about it. Now she would have to tough it out but look what happened to Kakashi and Sasuke.

But it was to late now, one second later she was in a black and red world with snow white clouds. She was so screwed now.

The roseatte felt a strange surface, and saw that she was leaning against a rock.

Startled, she tried to push off to figure a way out of here but black chains came out from behind the rock. They encircled her wrists, shackling them securely to the rock.

Itachi appeared before her from a flock of ravens a foot from her. She tried to kick him in the leg. He snapped his fingers and more black chains appeared and wrapped themselves around her ankles.

He smirked at her vulnerable state before leaning forward to her ear.

"Care to tell me now, Sakura?"

Sakura looked at him in fury before stubbornly keeping her mouth closed, jaw clenched tight.

The stoic Uchiha lifted his eye brows in surprise, normally most victims would be begging for mercy right now. But she was different, stronger, and courageous then most. He almost entertained the idea of her bound kneeling before him while he would tame the headstrong spitfire. But he didn't do sadistic like Hidan had done and canceled the idea immediately without a second thought.

A iron poker appeared in his hand, and a fire next to him started. Itachi stuck the poker in the fire, warming it to a white hot in a moment.

He saw Sakura's eyes dart nervously at the poker before a look of determination replaced it.

Approaching his prey, he lifted the white hot burning rod.

He used his other hand to grab the hem of her shirt and slid it up to reveal her stomach that was adorned with a well built waist. He traced the belly button with two fingers then moved the poker closer to her.

Come on Sakura, think! She thought frantically, if anything she did not want to spend what would seem like hours in here. This is almost like a genjutsu, and since we're usually good at these, if we concentrate hard enough I'll break out."

The poker barely brushed her skin when she slipped out of tysukinomi, the world of pain and torture disappearing as she opened her eyes in the lounge.

She was on the floor underneath Itachi still too, but otherwise probably not even a second had passed since he tried to put her through tysukinomi.

Itachi's mangekyou deactivated his normal sharingan bloodline. What had happened? How had she broken through?

Sakura allowed a triumphant smile as she reveled in the fact she had actually out beaten tsyukinomi.

The infamous Uchiha's eyes were a flicker of shock, before he quickly held the emotion but she caught it.

Her smile faded. She was still in a tight spot, it looks like she would have to tell Itachi half of the truth. It would get him off her back and literally off of her too.

"Alright," Sakura rolled her eyes while blowing a free strand of hair out of her face. "if you really want to know, I was definitely not that scumbag Danzo's lackey, my last mission before I defected required me to act as a member of Root."

"Why do you want to know anyway?"

She was curious as to why he would go through such lengths to see if she was with the secret subdivision of anbus. Something was up, not matter how good he must have been at being a anbu captain how did he know?

Itachi gauged her facial features and breath to see if she was lying. No she was not, bot what sort of a mission would cause her to disguise as a Root member? There was certainly more to her, and she was holding back something, he could tell.

Sakura moved under him, apparently uncomfortable with the current position.

"Can you please get off me now Itachi?" she had given him her response and there was no need any longer then it should have been for Itachi to hold her like this.

He leaned in close to her face a few centimeters from her with his charcoal bangs sweeping her eyelashes.

"You seemed to like this position earlier, the way you were blushing." Itachi said silkily, brushing his lips against her in an sexy, intimate way.

By now Sakura was going crazy and about to fall off the express.

He was teasing her but she was to shy to meet his lips. Argh, couldn't he just kiss her already?

"What!" Sakura yelled in her head, "kiss him, no!"

Itachi smirked at her arrogantly before hoisting himself off of her.

"My apologies for earlier, Sakura." He said, rolling the last syllable of her name in such a sexy voice that made Sakura kind of wish he hadn't gotten off of her yet.

Sakura got up, blushing a deep hot pink as she walked out of the room.

"Good night, Itachi."

"Good night, Sakura."

She went into her bedroom and crashed into the bed. Oh. Kami. What was that the hell was she doing? That's the last time I'm doing something like that. That excitement from earlier now had its grip on her, so there was no way she was going to sleep yet.

Drawing back the curtains of her window she watched as a few people walked the streets of the Rain village and the bright lights blinded her. Time for a small exploring expedition about the place. Slipping on her boots and new Akatsuki robe quickly she briefly wondered what was the view of the city like at the top of the tower. One way to find out.

Unlocking her window and shifting her weight to the outer wall of the tower, she started climbing. She could have just easily run up it, though she wanted to take her time.

By the time she'd gotten to the top of the tower, she nearly fell of due to her boot slipping on a wet spot. Shaking her head while urging herself to be more cautious, she threw her legs up and reached the exact top of the tower. The Rain village looked so small this high up, but it almost had some sort of grandeur to it that would be hard to see unless you had this view.

Thinking she was alone to the fresh air she let her legs dangle into the open atmosphere and inhaled the fresh, moist dew the rain from earlier had left behind. She was so spaced out while watching the people below go about their late night agendas watching them go about. One of the first things she spotted was a drunk Rain ninja and some white haired prostitute whose flashy, sparkly dress that made her look like a disco ball making out hungrily before falling into some dirty, grummy shed behind a restaurant. Nice dress, she thought sarcastically. A young mother was chasing her young wily son with a wooden spoon as he ran about a small house with what was a jar of ceremonial cookies for a celebration of some sort. Venders started closing, putting their goods in bags as they towed their makeshift shops away. Sakura's eyes started drooping and she tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear as she let out a long, slow yawn. Time to go back soon.

Sakura's ears perked suddenly, and she back flipped over to the other side of the tower. Looking down on that side was a different story. She could make out the bridge she had crossed today and a small sea of crashing waves. It was almost like a relaxing lullaby, the soft waves crashing together in foam, listening to it. Her feet were closer to the edge then she meant to be, and she heard a noise behind her.

It was Tobi. What the hell was he doing here?

"Tobi?" Sakura called out.

"Sakura!" Tobi scampered on over well, skipped is more like it. Why would he be up here? She could have sworn all the other members were asleep. "What are you doing up here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Tobi." She narrowed her eyes a little bit. Was he spying on her or something? What was going on? As he came closer to her his mask slid a little bit over his face, giving a small glimpse of his eye before he quickly put the mask in its proper place. Was that red she saw in his eyes with spinning tomoes in them? Sharingan? Impossible.

He finally stood before her though to close while delightfully humming.

"Tobi?" She was going to ask seriously this time why he was up here, and how he knew she was up here in the first place. But as he flicked his head to the side a bit, giving her another unintentional view of his eye while replying. "Yeah Sakura?"

It was the sharingan. For some silly reason, this scared the living daylights out of her and she let out a screech. But this caused her to loose her footing and she fell of the tower.

"Sakura!" Tobi shouted, worry lining his voice as he became a small dot in her view as she fell stories down with the wind flying by her face.

Stupid. Idiot. She berated herself as she watched the tower grow taller. It was probably her imagination. How could he even have a sharingan in the first place? Unbelievable, he didn't! There was no way. Then she started to formulate a plan to save herself.

Truthfully, she didn't know what to do as the crashing waves below and water got more closer. Swim, she thought automatically. But she was falling so high and so fast she would be lucky if she survived. Weirdly enough, she was not as nervous as she thought she would be.

This next part was one of the worst pains Sakura had ever experienced thus far in her ninja career. One of the worst pains she ever had was when Tsunade trained her and when Sasori stabbed her long ago. Her back hitting, no, smacking the surface of the water hurt. Really, bad. No joke. She was sure that it would be bruised a bit in the morning as she grit her teeth to get the pain of her mind as she breast stroked to shore. The waves weren't as vicious as they looked, and also using chakra to swim helped a lot too. It hurt to much to lift herself from the water and just walk on it. A few minutes later she made her way up the slope of sand while healing her back.

Keeping to the streets and staying to the shadows as much as possible to not be seen, the pain left her back and she straightened up. Her boots made soft sloshing noises and this caught the attention of an old woman who was towing her cart to a small but cozy little home near the shore.

"Dear me, what happened to you young lady?" The old woman exclaimed at Sakura's wet soaked state. "Why are you all wet?"

"I fell….into the sea and I just swam my way up to the shore." Sakura didn't know if she should add the part that falling of a tower from a small silly fright was worth mentioning, much to her embarrassment as she thought back on it. "I was just going back to where I was staying to get some sleep and dry off."

"Well come with me dear!" The old woman cheerfully said and grabbed her hand, leading her to her to the small cottage. "Let's get you dried, you must be freezing!" She smiled at the woman's kindness, it almost reminded her of Naruto's attitude so she followed the kind woman who introduced herself as Minko.

"Thank you very much, Minko." She stood a bit awkwardly as Minko switched on some fluorescent lights that revealed a cramped kitchen that had a small counter with leftover ramen on it. She even loves ramen like Naruto, she thought. As the room lit up, her Akatsuki robe came to full light with the red clouds almost shining in wetness of the black cloak.

Minko's jaw opened as if dumbstruck. "Y-your in A-akatsuki?" Her bottom lip quivered as she scanned the pinkette up and down.

"Yes." Sakura said hesitantly, starting to think she should leave.

"S-so you've met Lord P-pein?" Minko sputtered.

"That too. He is my leader as I am apart of his organization, Akatsuki I am his most recent recruit."

"Bless you for meeting my God!"

"God?" She blinked confusedly. Pein was the leader of the Rain village, but these people seriously thought of him as a God? His influence over the Rain village was more vast and different then she would have bargained for. Or even thought, he had these civilians under his thumb easily. "What's so-"

But Minko would here none of it as she excitedly rambled on. "I can't believe this! You actually met him? What does he look like? He never shows himself, ever!" Minko stopped for breath before continuing as she looked like she wanted to touch Sakura's sopping wet cloak. "If your part of the Akatsuki, then you are one of his minor Gods, chosen especially to serve him with your huge powers to protect us! I am actually in the presence of one of his chosen ones right now!"

Okay…. Um…. What was she supposed to do now?

"I cannot tell you that Minko, I am sorry but Pein would not allow to let information to slip like that or else he'd deem me untrustworthy." She felt bad making up a half lie to the sweet old woman, but there were not that many options besides breaking the woman's faith in what she believed was good and her beliefs, or, telling her what Pein looked like and get killed for passing information he obviously did not want his people to know. Either way would get her kicked out of the Akatsuki and would have her important mission end in a fail.

"Of course." Minko's facial expressions had a disappointed look on them and her heart swelled at it so she walked over to hug her. Minko seemed shocked that one of her Lord Pein's "chosen ones" was giving her such a display of gratitude. "I never expected one of the chosen ones to ever show themselves."

"You caught me at the right time."

"Here, here, let me help you undress then you can take a shower while your clothes dry." Minko assisted undressing her due to some leftover back pain and the old woman's insisting. The robe was removed first, and was gently folded as if it were made of glass by Minko, who made quite a show of staring at it for twenty seconds before getting back to helping Sakura out of her soggy clothes. She didn't feel prudish as she got naked in front of a stranger she didn't know until know probably since she was an old woman and she was being so sweet. Minko got the water running and helped her in with a lot of "thank you's" from the pink minx. Minko asked if she needed anything else as she got more self conscious of her naked body. "I'm good, thanks and again I really appreciate it you have shown me much kindness."

"Anytime." Minko shuffled out the door to give her some privacy.

A short time later she got out of the lukewarm tube and dried herself before stepping out back into the kitchen.

Minko came walking in with her clothes neatly dried and folded. "here you go my dear!"

She slipped back into her clothes and buttoned her cloak back up to her chest. "I must be going now."

"Yes, I imagine Lord Pein must have you on some mission to help us in some way soon." Minko put a hand over her heart. "Praise him, he's a great leader."

"Yes, something of a sort like that is coming up." If you could say Pein's goal even helps the village and his whole world peace by war campaigning. "I do thank you again Minko, I have not been shown this kindness in quite some time."

"It was a pleasure to serve you for this night chosen one." Minko played with her hands nervously and asked shyly. "May you at least tell me your name, minor God of Lord Pein's?"

"My name…. is Sakura." Fishing through a pocket she pulled out an old charm that was shaped like a cherry blossom she had once gotten for herself. Ino insisted it to be her luck charm though she didn't need it so she would give the lovely charm to Minko. "Here, take this Minko, as a sign of my gratitude to you."

Minko was careful to put the charm in the folds of her apron like it was the most delicate thing in the whole world. "Thank you, Sakura of the Akatsuki."

"Thank you." With that, Sakura stepped back and creating the hand signs for a teleportation jutsu, disappeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms.

In no time at all Sakura was back at the tower. Silently running up the stairs, she fled back into her room but saw Tobi side by side with Pein striding down the hall. Pein looked very annoyed, making the warning alarms in her head go off. Tobi was talking so quickly she could barely keep up with whatever it is he was saying. "I'm telling you Leader-sama, She's in trouble, you've got to help her!"

Pein must have been asleep from the looks of it, she thought. Then there was no need for him to know about her tumble of the tower. "What's going on?" She asked fake curiously.

"Sakura! You're alright!" Tobi was bouncing happily now, Pein looked like he knew something was up. "You fell of the tower, so Tobi tells me."

"What are you talking about? I didn't fall of the tower I went out for a late night stroll, do I look hurt to you?"

"What! How-" Pein growled angrily at Tobi, making him go silent. "And here, you got me up for nothing but a silly dream?"

"I-uh." Tobi wheeled around the corner scared out of his wits. "Good night!"

"Good night to you as well, Leader-sama. I am sure Tobi had to much to eat or something tonight I am sorry he disturbed you on my account."

Pein sighed. "Apology accepted Sakura, be sure this does not happen again." He left in thin air.

She tiredly closed her door and flopped back on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

Next morning….

Sakura awoke, yawning as she cracked her eyes open. What a night. The memories of last night came back to her. Well, that was certainly not expected to spend the good part of her night with under Itachi. Literally.

She touched her lips, remembering how the dark haired Uchiha brushed his lips against hers.

She got off the futon and set about to get ready. Going through her dresser she grabbed a black skirt but kept the white shirt on. She neatly folded her pants away then he used a bandage to cover her Root tattoo. After what happened last night, the last thing she wanted was another incident over the tattoo.

Zipping her boots up then grabbing a brush, she attacked the snarls in her hair with a vengeance. Thankfully she no longer smelled like salt water. Next was her forehead protector that she tightly tied in her head. Time for breakfast.

She swiftly walked down the corridor to the dining room to see all the members there with Itachi at the head of course, with Kisame, Deidara, and Tobi off to the side. She sat next to Kisame again and nobody bothered to point out her tardiness which she took as a good sign.

The pinkette looked up to see Itachi glance at her for a few seconds and she blushed heavily.

Thirty minutes of eating and occasional talking the door to the dining room opened. Konan strode in light on her toes like a gazelle. Deidara and Kisame had surprise on their faces, she never joined them without Pein's company.

"Pein wants to see you now." Swiveling on her heel she left the room without another word.

They all got up and walked to Pein's office, eyeing the remains of their breakfast with regret except Itachi.

Sitting before Pein again she felt a bit awkward sitting next to Itachi as he lounged in his spot on the couch. She cornered her self to the edge of the couch for more room and distance.

"You are all here," Pein said. "All five of you now move on to the next base I assign you to effect of immediately. Deidara and Tobi, you shall go to the base in the Earth country where the next extraction chamber is."

"Question," Kisame interrupted loudly, with a mocking grin. "which group is going to be taking Pinky?"

"Pinky?" Sakura growled, giving her sign to kick butt by cracking her knuckes. "Why you-"

"Be quiet both of you, I have not finished speaking."

She shot a death glare at Kisame before returning her attention back to Pein.

"Sakura will go with Itachi and Kisame to hunt the four tails where he was last seen in Mist." Pein said simply. "You have to bring him back alive and soon."

Sakura swallowed. She knew that she would have to hunt a jinchuriki, but so soon?

Pein dismissed them with a wave of his hand and they went back to their rooms.

She shut her door firmly and went to packing. She was happy she could leave now, she would finally be able to send an important report to Tsunade. If she was going into public now, she should wear her Akatsuki clothes. Throwing off her clothes she got them out.

The pants slid up her waist easily, though barely covered it but they were comfy. The fishnet shirt she would have to get used to, it was tight and wondered with Anko and Ino wore this everyday. Last she put on the shirt that matched her pants but went down halfway to her stomach, much to her distaste.

Checking her bag once more to make sure it had everything, she went down the hall to where her new partners were waiting.

Kisame smirked at her. "Ever been to Mist before?"

"No." She was curious about it nonetheless though. "But I am curious as to what yor home village looks like."

"Maybe I'll show you around the place sometime," Kisame started following Itachi down the stairs. "there's a great sushi bar near the Mizukage's tower."

They were going down the long flight of stairs now. Sakura thought to Tsunade. Tsunade had mentioned she had met all the other four kage. She had obviously met Gaara. But an interesting one was when she had met the Stone village's Tsuchikage in the second great ninja war. Tsunade had soured at that, muttering about something that had to do with the Tsuchikage calling her "princess" Tsunade in front of his elite squad of Stone ninja since the first hokage was her grandfather and her grand uncle was the second hokage so she was directly related to them. This had made the Stone ninja laugh, Tsunade recalled sourly that day, so she had broken all their noses including the Tsuchikage too out of anger. Tsunade had met the Raikage, A, over her many travels. She said she had met the Mizukage a few times before and said she sure knew how to nearly beat Tsunade in a drinking contest but she had fallen asleep after that, telling no more.

"Kisame, what's your Mizukage like?" She was wondering what Tsunade had left out before.

Kisame shrugged. Even though they were only halfway down the stairs, they still had a lot to go.

"The Mizukage," he mused aloud. "known as Mei Turami."

"No, what is she really like?" She pressed, wanting to know more about the Mizukage.

"Well, I do not know much about her," Kisame said with growing hostility, reaching up to touch the hilt of sameheda. "But I can tell you this: she has one killer good kekkei genkai that you want to watch out for."

"What kekkei genkai would that be?" Itachi took two steps at a time as they went down. "I rarely see any ninja that has a formidable kekkei genkai such as what is left of my clan's and the Hyuuga's."

"Her kekkei genkai is not as powerful as your mangekyou," Kisame went on. "but apparently she is one of the last of a rare clan that possessed a lave style jutsu."

"Lava style?" She was deeply interested now.

"We must leave for Mist now," Itachi declared opening the door and stepping out while beckoning for them to come.

They nodded and Sakura briefly tried to imagine what the Water country looked like as they started their hunt for the Four Tails.

**Reviews please! Sorry about the wait, I have been busy and chapter eight will be coming around soon and tomorrow is my first day of school as a sophomore! Wish me luck!**


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